


Chloé Bourgeois's Personal Paradox

by Nioli



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Chloé Bourgeois Redemption, Constantly updating the tags as I post new chapters XP, F/F, Lesbian Chloé Bourgeois, New Miraculous Holders, Original Akuma, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:48:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 23,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27710936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nioli/pseuds/Nioli
Summary: Chloé Bourgeois has spent years fixating on the moment where everything in her life began to go wrong, and when she is given the chance to change things she immediately takes it, even if it is in blatant disregard to the space-time continuum.With Queen Bee's identity no longer made public before her superhero career can even begin, can Chloé Bourgeois truly take advantage of this second chance to become the hero that she has always fantasized about being?(Alternate Universe beginning at the end of Style Queen and proceeding from there.)
Relationships: Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant
Comments: 23
Kudos: 78





	1. Rabbitrix

“Hello, my Queen.”

Chloé stared open-mouthed at the inexplicable creature that had just materialized in her bedroom, the mysterious jewelry box that she had found at the Eiffel tower still tightly clutched in one perfectly manicured hand. It appeared to be some kind of giant bug, and as such her initial instinct would normally have been to call for Jean-Whatever to come and squash it immediately, however the fact that the creature had just addressed her in flawless French and was now patiently waiting for a response made her hesitate. She glanced around, half expecting to see cameras recording her for some kind of utterly ridiculous prank show, and once she had assured herself that they were indeed alone she turned her attention back to the creature, which blinked placidly at her.

“H-hello?” she said.

“Oh good, you can hear me!” said the creature, in obvious relief, “I was beginning to worry something was wrong, my Queen.”

“Of course something is wrong!” said Chloé, “What are you!? What are you doing in my room!? And why do you keep calling me that!?”

If the creature was offended at her sharp tone of voice then it made no outward display of showing it, instead simply bowing deeply.

“My apologies, my Queen, how terribly rude of me to not introduce myself! My name is Pollen, and I’m a Kwami. Your Kwami, in fact, hence calling you my Queen. Is there some other form of address you would prefer? My last owner didn’t mind it, but I wouldn’t want to make you uncomfortable. As for what I’m doing here, I simply go wherever the Bee Miraculous goes.”

Pollen gestured down at the box Chloé was holding, and Chloé blinked several times in quick succession, her brain struggling to keep up with this sudden barrage of information.

“A miraculous?” she said, gingerly setting the box down and picking up the comb to more closely examine it, “Like Ladybug wears?”

“Precisely!” said Pollen, “Though I’m surprised she hasn’t already explained this to you, my Queen. I thought there was an urgent mission at hand.” 

“You mean that tantrum my mother threw earlier?” said Chloé, thinking back to the events that had begun at the fashion show, “That’s old news. Ladybug already fixed that!”

“I’m relieved to hear that,” said Pollen, “Though I must confess I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t get to assist her.” She sighed. “Will you be returning the miraculous to Ladybug then?”

Chloé considered this for approximately three tenths of a second before grinning.

“Actually… Ladybug left the Miraculous for me to keep!” she said, with feigned confidence, “I’m going to be her new partner in fighting crime from now on!”

This wasn’t strictly a lie, from a certain point of view. Ladybug had apparently left the miraculous where Chloé had found it, and as they said, finders keepers! Her and Cat Noir were going to get a new teammate whether they wanted one or not!

“That’s wonderful news, my Queen!” said Pollen, beaming brightly.

“Isn’t it just?” said Chloé, “Now then, why don’t you tell me absolutely everything that I need to know about being a superhero?”

“Of course, my Queen!” 

*

At another time, in another place, another miraculous was in the hands of a girl that it didn’t strictly belong to.

“Stop her!” cried Alix, clutching at her leg which throbbed with pain from the trip and fall that she had just taken, “She’s got my watch!”

The hooded figure had come seemingly out of nowhere, extending a leg as Alix skated past to bring her crashing to the hard pavement. She had been stunned by the impact, and before she had time to even properly process what was happening the thief had pounced upon her and swiftly rifled through her pockets for the family heirloom. How ironic it was that Bunnix, the hero of the last chance, had found herself lacking in time, and Alix felt frustration and embarrassment course through her as she watched the thief rapidly retreat. 

Fortunately however, she was not alone.

Two blurs shot past her, one red and the other black, as the two adult guardians of Paris took off in pursuit of the thief.

“Why would someone steal an old watch but not her phone or wallet?” said Cat Noir.

“They must somehow know that it’s a miraculous!” said Ladybug, the urgency clear in her voice, “Which means we have to catch them quickly before…”

“Fluff, Clockwise!”

“That happens!” finished Ladybug, in horror.

The thief’s hood was thrown back by the force of the transformation beginning, and the two heroes had just enough time to glimpse a familiar mane of blonde hair before the distinctive blue and white costume of the Rabbit Miraculous materialized around the thief.

“Was that… Chloé?” exclaimed Cat Noir in disbelief.

They hadn’t seen Chloé in years! She had moved out of Paris shortly after graduation, and after a couple of highly publicized attempts to cash in on her notoriety as both a former superhero and supervillain in an attempt to promote herself as a celebrity, she had completely dropped off the pair’s radar. Marinette had heard from Sabrina at a class reunion a year or so back that Chloé was apparently working in a fashion boutique in New York, but that was the last either of them had been aware of.

“How would Chloé know how to use the Rabbit Miraculous?” continued Cat Noir.

“I don’t know,” said Ladybug, but we’ve got to stop her before she does anything else!”

“I’m on it!” said Cat Noir, focusing for a moment as he channeled destructive power into his ring, “CATACLYSM!”

He slammed his hand down onto the street beneath them, and the ground shuddered as a wide chasm appeared in the road. Chloé stumbled, but ultimately remained on her feet, leaping up to a nearby rooftop instead. This was exactly what Ladybug had expected her to do however, and with a deftly practiced flick of the wrist Chloé’s legs were thoroughly entangled within the chord of her yo-yo. Ladybug yanked back on the chord, bringing Chloé crashing back to street level with a thud.

“Let go of me!” cried Chloé, thrashing wildly to free her legs from the yo-yo. She eventually managed to wriggle loose and clambered awkwardly back to her feet, but by that point the two heroes had caught up with her, and her shoulders slumped in apparent defeat at the realization that she wasn’t going to be able to outrun them.

“Not until you return that Miraculous,” said Cat Noir, crossing his arms in disapproval.

“I thought you were over this, Chloé,” said Ladybug with a sigh.

“Well you were wrong!” snapped Chloé, assuming a defensive stance in case either of them tried to jump her, “I’ll never be over it, and I’ll never forgive either of you for ruining my life!” 

“I’m sorry for what happened when we were teenagers,” said Ladybug, “But it was nobody’s fault but your own!”

Chloé snarled. The worst part was that she knew deep down that Ladybug was right. It was her fault! If she hadn’t revealed her identity at that ridiculous fashion show purely to try and spite her mother then Ladybug wouldn’t have withheld her Miraculous from her, and Hawkmoth would have had no way to manipulate her into helping him. For years she had dwelled on that moment, wishing that she could somehow change what had happened there, and now she had been given the chance to do just that!

The two heroes took a step towards her, and Chloé immediately took a step back. If they genuinely thought that they had her cornered then they were sorely mistaken! The transformation words weren’t the only things she’d learned about the rabbit miraculous. She closed her eyes for a moment as she reached inside herself, relishing in the sensation of power that she hadn’t felt since she was a teenager.

“BURROW!”

She aimed the portal directly down at her feet, dropping into it before either of them could make a move to stop her. The two heroes simultaneously cried out in alarm and dived forward, but the entrance to the time burrow disappeared before their eyes.

“Well that can’t be good,” said Cat Noir.

*

There were two stops that Chloé had to make. The first was to New York approximately one month earlier, to drop off instructions to herself. She had initially thought it was a joke when the letter appeared in her apartment one day, but the handwriting had perfectly matched her own, and she was at such a low point in her life that she had been willing to try anything to get out of it. She was barely making enough from her job to keep a roof over her head, having long since been cut off by her parents, and had nothing but a string of increasingly disastrous relationships to her name in terms of a social life. Sure it was reckless to blow everything she had on a plane ticket to Paris on nothing but the promise of a second chance, but she knew first hand that miracles really were possible in this world.

The letter contained a detailed diagram of exactly where and when she would find Alix, as well as instructions on how to access the Rabbit Miraculous and its powers, along with a few other vital pieces of information. She vaguely remembered the pocket watch from her brief time as Miracle Queen when she had attempted to seize all the miraculous for her own, but hadn’t given it a second thought at the time. If only she had known then the possibilities that it presented; she certainly wouldn’t have been so quick to cast it aside. Just another regret to add on to the enormous heap of them that made up her life. This time things would be different though, she’d make sure of it! 

She took a considerable amount of time copying out the letter, making sure that it was perfectly identical to the one that she had received. Quite frankly she couldn’t even begin to imagine what damage to the space-time continuum deliberately employing such a blatant paradox could cause, but she didn’t care. Besides, she had the Rabbit Miraculous now, didn’t she? How bad of an idea could it possibly be if her future self wasn’t coming back to stop her here and now!

And being stopped by her future self was exactly what she had in mind.

*

The atmosphere at the Agreste fashion show was abuzz with excitement at the sudden and dramatic arrival of Gabriel Agreste himself, making his very first public appearance since the disappearance of his wife. Not that Chloé frankly understood what all the fuss was about. Her mother was the true Queen of fashion, wasn’t she? Who cared about anyone else when she was around!? She had been sticking to her mother’s side as closely as possible all day, and it was no exception when Gabriel approached them after the show, Adrien in tow.

“My dear Audrey,” he said, “I heard about the unforgivable misfortune you had to endure.”

Audrey Bourgeois extended a hand for him to kiss, and he graciously complied.

“I’m still quite overwhelmed!” she said, without looking at him.

“I want you to know that I fired the person who was responsible for the misunderstanding. Only one row in the house is befitting to Audrey Bourgeois, and that’s the first.”

“Let’s not overdo it, huh, Gabriel?” said Audrey, smirking as she finally deigned to meet his gaze.

They were joined by the Dupain-Cheng Family, however at that moment Chloé was distracted by something small and had hitting the back of her head. She whirled around, rubbing the spot where it had struck, and quickly spotted a small pebble on the floor. She bristled with anger at the idea of someone doing something as utterly ridiculous as throwing a rock at her, and she looked around sharply for the culprit. Her family barely seemed to notice as she slipped away from them, too captivated by stupidly perfect Marinette’s stupidly perfect hat to pay any attention to her. 

“Who threw that!?” she said.

There was no response, and she moved further away from her family, at which point a second pebble struck her, this time from the side. Now practically apoplectic, Chloé turned to look in this new direction, her eyes finally falling upon the utterly ridiculous sight of a tall blonde woman in some kind of blue and white rabbit costume. It was clear from the smirk on her face and the handful of pebbles that she was holding that she was responsible, and Chloé stalked angrily across the Grand Palais towards her, following the strange woman into a side corridor.

“I don’t know who you think you are but you had better apologise!” she said, glaring up at the woman with her hands on her hips.

“Trust me,” said the woman, her smirk widening, “I just did us a favor.”

“Us?” repeated Chloé in confusion.

“Fluff, Counterclockwise!” 

Chloé gasped as the costume melted away to reveal… herself! A significantly older version of herself, but still clearly her. Her clothes looked considerably cheaper than anything she was used to, but Chloé knew her own facial features well enough to recognize herself despite the years. A small rabbit-like creature appeared beside them, another Kwami, the younger Chloé assumed, based on the similarity to Pollen, and the adult Chloé pulled out a carrot and handed it to the creature.

“I don’t understand!” said the young Chloé, furrowing her brow, “What are you… what am I doing here!?”

“Stopping us from making a huge mistake!” said the adult Chloé, “You were about to reveal yourself as Queen Bee to the entire world!”

“So what?” said young Chloé, “That just means everyone will see how amazing I truly am!”

“Wrong!” said adult Chloé sharply, “It means that Ladybug will have to take your Miraculous away because your identity is compromised, and then…” She frowned. “Look, I’m already messing with the space-time continuum more than I care to think about and frankly I don’t want to make things even more twisted than they already are by telling you too much. Just believe me when I say that you have to keep your identity secret at all costs.”

“This is ridiculous!” said young Chloé, stomping her foot in frustration, “Utterly ridiculous! What’s the point of being a superhero if you can’t even take credit for it!? 

“That’s for you to find out,” said adult Chloé, “All I can do is give you the second chance I never got. And trust me, you do not want to know how things turned out for us the first time!”

“It doesn’t look so bad to me!” said young Chloé, “Sure I’d never be caught dead in those hideous clothes of yours, but it looks like you became a superhero after all! What do you even call yourself in that ridiculous getup, ‘Rabbitrix’?”

“I’m no hero,” said adult Chloé, with a sigh, “I stole this miraculous from its rightful owner, and no, before you ask I’m not going to tell you who that was.”

Young Chloé harumphed, having indeed been seconds away from asking this exact question.

“That’s not a bad name though. I might use it if I end up keeping this miraculous. I really don’t think I can tell you any more than necessary, though. Just promise me that you’ll keep our identity secret this time!”

“Oh, fine,” said young Chloé, rolling her eyes, “I promise I’ll keep it secret. God, when did I become such a killjoy?”

“You’ll thank me when you’re not me,” said adult Chloé, mirroring the eye roll, “I’d better go though. As I said, I don’t want to mess up time any more than I absolutely have to! Fluff, Clockwise!” In a flash she was back in the rabbit costume. She opened up a burrow behind her and was about to step into it, however at that moment something occurred to her and she turned back.

“Oh! And one more thing! Don’t sabotage a train just so that you can take the credit for rescuing it. I know it seems like a good idea but it really isn’t!”

“That is a good idea!” said young Chloé, rubbing her hands together and grinning, “Something like that could be perfect for making Queen Bee’s debut!”

“What did I literally just say!?” snapped adult Chloé.

“Urgh, fine, fine,” said young Chloé, making a dismissive waving gesture, “No revealing my identity, no creating problems to solve. Any other ridiculous demands?”

Adult Chloé considered this for a moment, then shook her head.

“No, I think that’s everything. You’re going to be exceptional; I just know it!”

Young Chloé nodded in agreement.

“You’re certainly right about that. What are you going to do, though?”

“I’m going back to the future!” said adult Chloé, with a smirk, “If everything turned out as planned I should have a way better life to return to! This is win-win for both of us! Both of me. Yeesh, time travel is confusing.”

“Tell me about it,” said young Chloé, “Well, give grown up Adrikins my love! I’m sure you’ll be happily married in this new world if I have any say in the matter!”

Much to her surprise however adult Chloé simply laughed at this and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Oh wow, I really was in denial back then, wasn’t I?”

“Denial?” said young Chloé, blinking in surprise, “What’s that supposed to mean!?”

“My lips are sealed!” said adult Chloé, making a zipping gesture over her mouth and tossing away the imaginary key, “Just know that I told me so.”

She stepped into the time portal before her younger self could ask her any other questions, the burrow vanishing a moment later. The young Chloé Bourgeois was left alone once more, still blinking confusedly at the spot where her older self had vanished.

“What could I possibly be in denial about!?”

*

Rabbitrix pursed her lips as she examined portal after portal within the cavernous interior of the time burrow, trying in vain to figure out which one was her way home. As she wandered past the countless windows onto time she felt a curious hollow sensation begin to come across her, and she paused, wishing that she had something to lean on for support.

“What… what’s going on?”

She staggered forward, falling onto her knees as her feet suddenly gave way beneath her. She looked down to try and see what the problem was, and was horrified to find that her feet had become translucent. She reached down to prod them experimentally, and gasped as her hand passed right through them, and as she withdrew her hand again she saw that it too had begun to fade away.

The penny dropped.

“No way!” she said, “You’re telling me that just because I made a few stupid changes to the past this version of me doesn’t even exist anymore!?”

She snarled in frustration. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be! She was supposed to be able to hop back to the moment she left and enjoy the benefits of having changed time! The idea that she wouldn’t be around to appreciate her younger self’s changed ways was…

“Ridiculous!” she spat, even as the rest of her body rapidly faded away, “Utterly ridicu-”

There was silence in the burrow once more.

*

Back in the Grand Palais, Chloé Bourgeois rejoined her family, completely oblivious to what had just become of her older self. So, she had to keep her identity a secret, did she? Fine then! That’s exactly what she would do, and with Pollen’s help she would become the greatest superhero the world had ever seen! All she had to do was wait for another akuma to attack the city so that she could prove herself, and at the rate that happened she was confident that she wouldn’t have to wait for long.

Right?


	2. Reverser...?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloé Bourgeois has changed the past to give herself a second chance, but how is she supposed to be a superhero when Paris’s resident supervillain seems to have disappeared?

“Urgh, what is taking Hawk Moth so long!?” said Chloé in exasperation as she leaned heavily against the balustrade on the roof of the Le Grand Paris.

She had been up here after school every day this week, staring out over a peaceful city that was, as far as she could tell, very much not in need of a superhero to come and save it. There hadn’t been a single confirmed akuma sighting since Ladybug had defeated Style Queen during fashion week, and even Nadja Chamack on the news was beginning to publicly speculate as to why that might be.

“Just my luck. I finally get the chance to be a superhero and the local supervillain decides to go on vacation!” 

“Perhaps Ladybug and Cat Noir managed to defeat him, my Queen” said Pollen, who was floating dutifully close at hand, “You did say when we met that Ladybug had fixed things.”

“She fixed my mother, not the entire city!” said Chloé, with a dismissive wave of her hand, “There’s no way they would have stopped Hawk Moth without telling anyone! Especially their new teammate!”

Not that Paris’s heroes were even aware that they had a new teammate yet, but that didn’t seem like an important detail to mention to Pollen.

“You’re probably right, my Queen,” said Pollen, nodding sagely, “There must be some other reason. Perhaps there just haven’t been any negative emotions lately for Hawk Moth to latch onto?”

“Hah, I sincerely doubt that!” said Chloé, as she thought back to school that day.

She had promised her future self that she wouldn’t deliberately cause accidents that she could then solve, but she was nevertheless aware of how many akumatized victims at the school seemed to specifically blame her for their conditions, and had been making no efforts to temper her attitude over the past week. It wasn’t deliberately causing trouble if she was just being herself, right? Just that morning she had almost reduced Nathaniel and Marc to tears with her scathing critique of that new utterly ridiculous comic book of theirs, and yet no mysterious black butterflies had come fluttering into their school. And honestly, that comic book was ridiculous, and yet it was her selfie collages that the art group chose to mock. What a joke!

Of course, just because no akumas had been seen didn’t mean that Ladybug wasn’t around. In fact, it had been observed that she seemed to have been usually active over the past week, particularly considering that there had been no supervillain attacks. There had been countless sightings of her in the area around the Eiffel Tower, and the latest update on the Ladyblog (which Chloé was certain she would die of embarrassment if Alya ever found out that she followed) had been dedicated to speculating why this might be. Not that it was a mystery to Chloé. The Eiffel Tower was where she had stumbled across the Bee Miraculous, and there was no doubt in her mind that this was what Ladybug was desperately searching for there.

*

“Tikki, Spots Off,” said Marinette, once she was convinced that nobody was watching the alleyway that Ladybug had just dived into.

A wave of bright light swept rapidly across her, taking her superhero costume with it, and a moment later the tiny Kwami of creation popped out of her earrings to float beside her once more.

“Marinette you look exhausted,” said Tikki, her voice clearly tinged with concern, “You can’t keep pushing yourself like this!” 

“I have to, Tikki,” said Marinette, “I promised Master Fu that I’d bring the Miraculous back to him, and I refuse to disappoint, no matter how long it takes.”

Even as she said this however she had to stifle a yawn. Tikki was right; she really was exhausted. She had been slipping away at every possible opportunity to continue her search, turning down opportunities to hang out with her friends, rushing through her homework as quickly as she could, and even sneaking out at night once she was sure that her parents wouldn’t miss her. More than once in the last couple of days she had fallen asleep during class, the latest incident of which had earned her a trip to the Principal’s office for a stern talking to about the importance of getting a proper night’s sleep. 

“I know you promised, but at some point you’re going to have to accept that the Miraculous is gone,” said Tikki sadly, “Someone has to have found it by now! You’re just wasting your energy for nothing.”

“But-”

“What if Hawk Moth were to akumatize someone right now?” said Tikki, flying up to hover at eye level, “You’d be in no shape to fight them like this! You need rest!”

Marinette sighed. Tikki was right again, of course. She could barely keep her eyes open, and had only narrowly avoided crashing into at least three buildings on the way here. Even Mr. Pigeon could probably beat her in a fight at this particular moment, though she would have never admitted this aloud. 

“I’m sure Master Fu would say the same thing,” continued Tikki, “His studio isn’t too far from here. Why don’t you go and talk to him again?”

Marinette considered this for a moment, then nodded. She had expected Master Fu to be furious with her when she first told him the news, but instead he had simply smiled and told her that he was confident that she would set things right. She had seen the hint of disappointment in his eyes though, and in many ways that had hurt more than him yelling at her would have. They hadn’t spoken since then, and it was with no small degree of trepidation that Marinette approached the door to his massage studio and knocked tentatively on it. The response came almost immediately, a surprisingly brusque voice calling out:

“Go away! I’m sorry, but I can’t see any clients today!”

Marinette gulped. She wasn’t sure she wanted to go through with this now that she knew that he was already in a bad mood, but an encouraging pat from Tikki strengthened her resolve.

“Master, it’s me!” she said.

There was a brief sound of motion from behind the door, and a moment later it was opened by the familiar diminutive form of the Guardian of the Miraculous.

“Ah, come in Marinette! I apologise for my rudeness, but I’m dealing with a sick Kwami right now, so I had to be sure I wasn’t disturbed by anyone else.”

“A sick Kwami?” repeated Marinette, as she followed him into the room, “Like Tikki that one time?”

She thought back to the first time she had set foot in Master Fu’s studio, before she had any idea of his true role in proceedings.

“I’m afraid it’s much more serious than that,” said Fu, as he led her over to the same pillow that Tikki had been treated upon and knelt beside it, “whatever ails Fluff has proven to be not so easily cured.”

She followed his gaze down to the pillow, where the tiny rabbit-like Kwami was lying with her eyes rolled back, muttering a steady stream of words under her breath and occasionally twitching.

“She’s been like this for days now,” said Wayzz sadly as he emerged from behind Master Fu, “It didn’t seem too serious at first, but it’s only getting worse.”

He flew down to sit at Fluff’s side, and was joined a moment later by an equally concerned looking Tikki. 

“Is it today or tomorrow or again and again and again or never at all!?” said Fluff suddenly, her feeble voice raised so that everyone could hear it, “What if yesterday wasn’t tomorrow but today is last week!? All my todays are out of line, my tomorrows are expired, my yesterdays are missing! Reverse the Reverser! The Reverser is reversed! Why isn’t last week today or tomorrow!?”

She grew increasingly frantic as she said this, her tiny body seemingly undergoing a massive convulsion, until at last she finally lay still again, albeit still muttering incoherently under her breath. Everyone else in the room, human and Kwami alike, exchanged concerned glances.

“Reverse the Reverser?” repeated Marinitte, furrowing her brow, “What does that mean, Master?”

“We’re not entirely sure,” said Wayzz, “But it isn’t the first time she’s mentioned the name. As far as we’ve been able to make out from her ramblings it sounds like she’s referring to a supervillain of some sort.”

“Tell me, Marinette,” said Master Fu, stroking his goatee pensively, “In the past week have you by chance faced off against an akumatized victim going by the name ‘Reverser’?”

She shook her head.

“I haven’t encountered any akumas since Style Queen. Everything has been weirdly quiet on that front.”

Master Fu nodded, albeit with a frown.

“And yet Fluff seems convinced that such an akuma should have appeared by now. I suspect that Fluff’s ailment may not be physical, but instead stemming from the deep connection she shares with her element.”

“Her element?” echoed Marinette.

“Fluff is the Kwami of Evolution,” said Wayzz, “she’s intrinsically tied to the flow of time, giving her owners the ability to move through time and space.”

“So… you’re saying that there’s something wrong with time?” said Marinette, slowly putting together the pieces of what they were telling her.

“It’s only a theory,” said Master Fu, “but I believe it would explain Fluff’s condition.”

Fluff twitched again, and Marinette heard Tikki let out a sympathetic whimper.

“Well, what can we do?” said Marinette, determination filling her, “There has to be some way we can help her!”

“Unfortunately we are helpless in this situation,” said Master Fu sadly, “only a Rabbit Miraculous holder would be able to untangle whatever knot in time is harming her, and yet I fear that even if we had such a holder, in Fluff’s present condition she would not have the strength to power her own Miraculous.”

“I see…” said Marinette, deflating sadly.

“It’s not completely hopeless, Marinette,” said Tikki, flying across to give her owner another reassuring pat, “because she travels through time it’s not unusual for Fluff to be in two or even three places at once. It’s entirely possible that we’ll run into a Rabbit Miraculous holder at some point who can help us!”

“But until then all we can do is wait,” said Master Fu, “and try to make our present version of Fluff as comfortable as possible.”

There was silence in the room for a moment as everyone gazed regretfully at the unfortunate Kwami, until at last Master Fu clambered back to his feet, his joints crackling audibly as he did so.

“This isn’t why you came though,” he said, turning to address Marinette, who got to her feet as well, “Tell me, have you managed to locate the Bee Miraculous?”

“OH! Right… that!” said Marinette.

In all the distraction with Fluff she had almost forgotten what she was doing there in the first place, but now it all came rushing back to her, along with a renewed wave of exhaustion. She yawned again, but quickly stifled it, hoping that Master Fu wouldn’t think she was being rude.

“I’m sorry, Master. I’ve been searching the city all week but I still haven’t found it. You must think I’m the worst, clumsiest, most careless Ladybug there’s ever been!”

She hung her head in shame, staring resolutely down at her own shoes until Master Fu slowly reached up to pat her on the shoulder.

“I think nothing of the sort, Marinette. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes, even heroes, and it’s clear just by looking at you that you’ve been driving yourself to exhaustion trying to fix this one!” 

Marinette fidgeted uncomfortably at this and tried to suppress another yawn.

“If you haven’t found the Miraculous by now then someone else has almost certainly beaten you to it,” said Wayzz, flying up to join them, “there’s no point in continuing your search now.”

“That’s exactly what I told her,” said Tikki.

“Our Kwamis are correct,” said Master Fu, “For good or ill, the Bee Miraculous is gone now. We will simply have to wait and see what comes of it. With any luck, we may even gain a new ally from this!”

“But Master, what if Hawk Moth is the one who found it?” said Marinette, finally voicing aloud the fear that had been driving her all week, “What if the reason there haven’t been any akuma attacks this week is because he’s experimenting with a new Miraculous and coming up with an even more devious plan than ever!?”

“If that is indeed the case then I have full confidence that you and Cat Noir will figure out a way to stop him, just as I always have.”

He smiled kindly up at her, and despite the feeling of shame that still filled her Marinette found that she couldn’t help but smile back.

“Thank you, Master.”

Master Fu nodded, and began to steer Marinette back across to the door.

“For now though, you really should go home and get some rest. Hawk Moth’s next move could come at any moment, and it’s vital that Ladybug is ready to stop it.”

“Yes, of course,” said Marinette, finally allowing herself to yawn again, “Some rest sounds incredibly welcome right now.”

Tikki shot Master Fu a grateful glance, before following her owner out into the corridor. Master Fu waved them off with a smile, however the moment he had closed the door behind them the smile vanished again, replaced with concern.

“I don’t like any of this, Wayzz,” he said, stroking his goatee once more, “The disappearance of the Bee Miraculous, Hawk Moth’s suspicious lack of activity this past week, and Fluff’s serious affliction… I cannot shake the feeling that they are all somehow connected.”

“What can we do?”

“Nothing. For now we can only wait for Hawk Moth to make his next move, and hope that he hasn’t simply disappeared, taking Nooroo with him forever.”

*

Hawk Moth may have disappeared, but Gabriel Agreste certainly hadn’t, in fact Adrien was fairly certain that he’d seen more of his father in the last week alone than he had in the entirety of the previous year. It was quite frankly bizarre to suddenly have him around so much again, but it definitely wasn’t unwelcome, particularly since his mood seemed to have improved considerably.

“I won all of my fencing matches today,” said Adrien, as the two of them ate dinner together, “Even against Kagami, though she did give me a run for my money!”

“That’s wonderful!” said Gabriel, smiling warmly across the table at his son, “I always knew you’d make me proud!

Adrien blushed slightly at this and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. He wasn’t sure he’d ever get used to actually hearing his father praise him, though he wasn’t going to complain about it. The rest of the meal passed similarly amiably, and once the plates had been cleared away Adrien headed off up to his room to get started on that day’s homework. His father saw him off with another smile, however once Adrien was out of sight up the stairs the smile fell, and Gabriel’s shoulders visibly slumped.

“Sir,” said Nathalie, appearing behind him with a tablet in her hands, “Don’t you have work that you should really be getting back to?”

“I’ve finished my designing for the day, Nathalie,” said Gabriel, without looking back at her, “I’ll pick it up again in this morning.”

“I’m talking about your other work, Sir.”

Gabriel stiffened at this, every muscle in his body seeming to go tense for a moment before he took in a sharp breath and slowly exhaled it.

“I told you, I’m finished with that. I failed.”

“With all due respect, Sir, you’ve only failed if you stop trying. There are still-”

“Enough, Nathalie,” said Gabriel emphatically, half turning to face her with venom in his eyes, “I’m done talking about this.”

He turned and stalked up the stairs without another word, and Nathalie sighed. 

“You may be done talking about this, but I’m not,” she said, even though he was already long gone, “I refuse to let you give up on all of your dreams like that.”

She glanced back at the door to Gabriel’s study, picturing perfectly in her mind the safe contained within.

“I just need to show you that there’s still hope.”

*

As Marc sat alone in his bedroom, a single desk lamp providing the only light in the room, he was still fuming over Chloé’s scathing review of his and Nathaniel’s comic book. He knew that he shouldn’t let her words get to him. All of the other members of the art group had loved it, after all, and Chloé had barely skimmed the thing before unilaterally declaring that it was the most utterly ridiculous thing that she had ever read. As hard as he tried however, he couldn’t get the sound of her and Sabrina’s laughter out of his head, and now he found that every time he looked at anything he’d written he saw nothing but the flaws, and heard a flawless mental imitation of Chloé Bourgeois pointing out each and every one of them.

It wasn’t fair! Why should she get to decide what was worth reading and what wasn’t!? And now she’d gotten so firmly lodged in his head that he couldn’t even write anymore! How was he supposed to prove her wrong about his work!? It was hopeless! He had no talent and everybody at school knew it now!

He was so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he didn’t notice the butterfly slipping in through the open window until it was too late, and before he could even think to try and calm down again the akuma had already slipped into the open notebook that lay beneath his hand. His head immediately snapped upright, and he heard a feminine voice ring out clearly inside his mind.

“Critique, I am Hawk Moth. It hurts to have others unfairly judge your work, doesn’t it? Well from now on you will always have the last word over others! Any criticism you write about another will immediately be accepted as the absolute truth, and all I ask for in return for this power is that you bring me Ladybug and Cat Noir’s Miraculous. Do we have a deal?”

“Nobody will escape my words, Hawk Moth!” said Marc, as noxious purple energy began to envelop him.

“That’s what I thought.”

*

Chloé sighed again as she looked out over the frustratingly peaceful city one last time, before finally turning away from the hotel’s balustrade. 

“Forget it, Pollen,” she said, making a dismissive gesture back in the direction of the balcony, “It’s obvious that nothing is going to happen tonight. Let’s find something else to do instead.”

“Whatever you say, my Queen,” said Pollen, dutifully floating along just behind her.

The pair had barely gotten three paces from the railing however when a loud scream suddenly rang out from several streets away, and Chloé whirled around again, a huge grin plastered across her face.

“Now that sounds more like it!”

She reached up and quickly adjusted the comb in her hair, making sure that it was firmly held in place. Thanks to the camouflaging powers inherent in the Miraculous nobody at school seemed to have noticed anything suspicious about the fact that she had taken to wearing it, but the last thing she wanted was for it to come flying off whilst she was fighting. Ladybug might have been careless enough to lose the Miraculous, but she most definitely was not going to be!

Before she could open her mouth to speak the magical words that would transform her however the rooftop access door behind her was thrown violently open, and as Pollen ducked safely out of sight into an inner pocket of her jacket, Chloé span around again to find herself being faced down by her father and Jean-Thingy.

“There you are, Chloé!” said Mayor André Bourgeois, his face contorted with anger.

Chloé couldn’t even begin to guess what her father was so angry about, although judging from the butler’s expression he wasn’t the only one that felt that way, and as such she simply stood her ground and raised one eyebrow.

“Um… yes? Where was I supposed to be exactly?”

“Anywhere but here!” snarled André, “You’re a worthless parasite who does nothing but tear down true artists and I won’t have you in my hotel even a moment longer!”

He seized one of her arms roughly, Jean-Whatsit taking the other one with equal force, and together the two of the frog-marched her across to the stairs.

“H-hey!” she said, struggling against their grips fiercely but ultimately in vain, “Take your hands off me! You can’t treat me this way, I’m your daughter!”

Neither of the men would listen to her however, and a few moments later she had been physically ejected out of a service door into a back alleyway, landing sprawled on the cobblestones with a painful bump.

“And stay out!” snarled André, “If I ever catch you skulking around here again, I’ll use my power as Mayor to have you banished from the city entirely!”

He slammed the door behind her, leaving Chloé to simply glare after him.

“Well that was ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous!”

“Forgive me, My Queen,” said Pollen, as she emerged from within her jacket again, “But is that the usual way for a parent to treat their child? It’s been a while since I got to be around human beings for this long.”

“Of course it’s not!” snapped Chloé, dusting herself off as she clambered back to her feet, “Clearly this has something to do with that scream we heard. I think it’s time for Queen Bee to finally make her long overdue debut, if for no other reason than so that I actually have a place to sleep tonight!”

She double-checked her Miraculous once more, and then nodded in satisfaction.

“Pollen, Buzz On!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those interested I'm using the timeline on the Miraculous wiki for a general sense of what order events should happen in, since you really can't tell from the order the episodes originally aired in.
> 
> Also yes I realise that poor Chloé didn't actually get to do much in this chapter of my Chloé fanfic, but thankfully she'll finally get to see some action next time!


	3. Critique

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Queen Bee's first mission, and her chance to prove herself as a superheroine, but how will Ladybug and Cat Nor react to their new surprise teammate?

Chloé had never felt so alive.

The wind rushed past her as the momentum from her spinning top propelled her above the nearby rooftops, and for just a second at the very apex of her jump she closed her eyes and allowed herself to be lost in the exhilarating feeling of freedom. She had snuck out at night a few times to practice when she was confident that nobody would be watching, and it had been exciting enough to tide her over, but actually being here now on her first real mission as a superhero was another feeling entirely. 

She landed for a second on the top of somebody’s house and ran across the length of their roof before springing into the air again, heading in the direction of the scream that she had heard from the hotel. Some small part of her told her that should have been more nervous about the idea of leaping into battle against a real-life supervillain, however she was far too caught up in the thrill of the moment to care about such things. Besides which, Ladybug and Cat Noir took on these things all the time, right? How hard could it be?

Even before she reached the source of the scream if was obvious that there was a serious disturbance in the city. People were running to and fro in the streets below her, and she could hear the sounds of heated arguments coming from many of the windows that she passed by. Evidently her daddy and their butler were not the only people to be negatively affected by whatever was going on; it almost seemed like all of Paris had begun to turn on one another! 

“You’ve never believed in me!” cried one girl, as she furiously wagged one finger in the face of her cowering boyfriend.

“It’s your fault that everything went wrong last week!” yelled a man to his partner, as they sat arguing on a bench.

“I’m going to give you exactly what you deserve!” said a woman in a business suit, moments before landing a punch on the unfortunate man that she had been speaking to.

This wasn’t the only physical fight that had started, and as Chloé landed on a balcony overlooking a busy street she discovered that the origin of the scream appeared to be a small riot that had broken out at the entrance to a fashionable boutique that she had been known to frequent with her daddy’s money. The unfortunate owner of the shop was trying desperately to keep the doors barred, even as a group of riled up Parisians pounded furiously against them.

“Your prices are outrageous!” said one woman, as she kicked fiercely at the doorframe.

“We refuse to put up with this any longer!” said another, who was swinging an umbrella around over her head like it was a medieval mace.

“From now on we deserve to take all the clothes we want for free!” said a third, who was practically scrambling over the other two in her attempts to reach the door.

“Somebody please help!” cried the shopkeeper, even as broken glass cascaded around her from one of the shop’s windows, which had just had a nearby trash bin thrown through it.

Chloé tensed, ready to leap dramatically from the balcony and save the day, however when the moment came to actually jump down she found that she was frozen to the spot. What exactly was she supposed to do here!? All she had was a spinning top and a stylish costume! She’d dreamed about being a superhero hundreds of times, but now that she was actually faced with it in reality it all suddenly felt far too real for her. Sure she could use her Venom to immobilize one of the three assailants, but that would still leave the other two to deal with, and at that point she would only have five minutes before transforming back with an entire city still rapidly plunging into chaos.

“Oh, what do I do!?” she said, retreating back from the edge of the balcony before anyone down below could see her, “What would Ladybug do!?”

She thought back to the times she’d been lucky enough to watch Ladybug in action (or unlucky enough, on those surprisingly frequent occasions when the villain of the day had specifically been going after her). Even without her Lucky Charm she always seemed to come up with a brilliant plan, taking advantage of every possible element that she had at her disposal. How was she possibly supposed to live up to that!? 

She peered back down at the street, looking around for anything that she could use, and as her eyes flicked between a pair of streetlights she felt the spark of an idea begin to form in her brain. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves, and then finally leaped dramatically off the balcony, unspooling her spinning top and swinging it around in a wide arc so that the chord wrapped around both streetlights multiple times, rapidly weaving a makeshift net between them. The trio had finally managed to force the boutique’s door open, and as they began to advance into the store Chloé dived through the open door, passing over their heads and spinning around so as to land between them and the terrified shopkeeper.

“Sorry, ladies!” she said, “But I’m afraid the sale isn’t until next week!”

The three women blinked confusedly at her, and Chloé took advantage of their momentary bafflement to land a kick squarely in the stomach of the one wielding the umbrella. The woman went flying back out of the door and into the streetlight net, immediately becoming tangled in the spinning top’s chord. The other two women exchanged a nervous glance and then took off down the street, clearly deciding that the injustice of having to pay for their high fashion was not worth this much trouble. Chloé tugged on the spinning top, causing the makeshift net to unravel, and the woman who had been tangled in it hobbled down the street after her accomplices.

“Th-thank you,” said the shopkeeper, as she clambered uncertainly back to her feet, “Thank you so much! But… who are you?”

“The name’s Queen Bee!” said Chloé, placing one hand on her hip as she grinned smugly at her first grateful citizen, “And I’m Paris’s new superhero, so you’d better not forget it!”

The sound of another scream came ringing out from somewhere outside, and Chloé’s grin turned into a frown.

“You might want to get yourself somewhere safer though. This isn’t over yet.”

She darted back outside and used her spinning top to grapple up to a nearby rooftop, reaching as high a vantage point as possible so as to more easily survey the city. Preventing a boutique from being looted was one thing, but as long as whatever akumatized victim was responsible for all of this chaos was still out there all of her efforts would ultimately be for naught. She had to take the fight right to the source! Besides, that was exactly where Ladybug and Cat Noir would be, and Chloé was just itching to introduce them to their brand-new teammate.

She craned her neck as she looked around, carefully scanning the city for any indication of where the villain might be lurking, however she was soon distracted by the sound of loudly squealing tires from somewhere nearby. The source of the sound was a speeding bus was careening recklessly through the streets, and Chloé sighed as she took off towards it. Apparently the akuma would have to wait just a little longer!

*

As it turned out though, neither Ladybug or Cat Noir were anywhere near the akuma at that particular moment in time. Adrien was still in his bedroom, and was finally just finishing up his homework for the night when he heard yelling coming from outside his window.

“Uh-oh,” said Plagg, abandoning the cushion that he had been lounging on in order to float over to the window and peer out at the city, “Looks like we’ve got trouble!”

“Seems like our time off is finally over,” said Adrien, as he joined his Kwami and surveyed the scene himself, “About time too, I never really cared for the quiet. Plagg, Claws Out!”

A moment later Cat Noir sprang from the window, extending his stick as he went to effortlessly vault over the high wall that surrounded the Agreste mansion. Everywhere he looked people were squabbling and causing trouble, though he quickly honed in on the biggest problem as being the bus that was currently ploughing its way through the city at what looked to easily be at least double the legal speed limit. He took off towards it, lithely bouncing off streetlights and chimney stacks with well-practiced grace, and as he got closer he was pleased to see the outline of a female superhero already balanced atop the speeding vehicle. His initial assumption was that it was Ladybug, however he was surprised that she didn’t seem to actually be doing anything to try to slow the vehicle down, and it was with a start that he realised that it was in fact an unfamiliar blonde girl in a yellow and black costume.

He landed on the roof of the bus behind her, but she was so caught up in the moment that she completely failed to notice his approach. She was muttering something to herself under her breath, and as he carefully approached her he was just about able to make out what she was saying.

“Think, Queen Bee, think! What would Ladybug do!?”

“You’re asking the wrong question,” said Adrien, with a cocky grin, “You should be asking what would Cat Noir do?”

Queen Bee’s head jerked around in alarm, clearly startled by suddenly finding herself no longer alone up there. She quickly composed herself however, and rolled her eyes at the newcomer. 

“I’m pretty sure the answer to that question is always either ‘flirt with Ladybug’ or ‘destroy something’.”

Adrien deflated slightly and scowled at her.

“Those aren’t the only things I do.”

“Hey, I wasn’t judging you for either! But you can prove it by helping me stop this thing!” Adrien nodded.

“I’ll take the front, you take the back, but we need to slow it down gradually or the people inside could be seriously injured!”

“What does that even mean, ‘you take the back’!?”

“I’m sure you’ll think of something,” said Adrien, as he readied his stick, “After all, you just have to think what Ladybug would do!”

He winked at her, and then flipped forward onto the front of the bus, clinging onto it with one clawed hand for support as he extended his stick into the ground with the other. The force of the friction threw up a cascade of sparks, but the bus did indeed begin to slow down slightly.

“Any time now!” he said, his voice strained from the exertion.

Queen Bee looked around again for something that she could use, eventually spotting a sturdy looking stone pillar. She flung her spinning top out towards it, wrapping the chord around it several times before catching it in her hand again. With that done she threw the full force of her weight and strength down onto the back end of the bus, pushing it down with her feet and slowly unspooling the chord so that the bus was slowed by the pillar without simply shattering it. The combined efforts of the two heroes eventually succeeded in bringing the bus to a complete stop, and as the doors opened with a pneumatic hiss the relieved passengers spilled out onto the street. It was clear that the driver was unhappy though, and as Cat Noir and Queen Bee slid down off the roof they saw him desperately attempting to start the engine again.

“Hey!” said Queen Bee, panting slightly from exhaustion as she latched onto his arm and dragged him away from the driver’s seat, “What do you think you’re doing!?”

“The busses are too slow!” said the driver, struggling to get back to the steering wheel, “They’re always late! They need to go faster!” 

“Yeah, I don’t think this bus isn’t going anywhere else tonight,” said Adrien, as he reached down and slashed his claws across the front tires, “I’m afraid your route’s been cancelled.”

The driver slumped down in defeat, and Queen Bee released him again now that he was no longer a danger to anyone. The two heroes exchanged a glance, and Adrien gestured up towards a nearby building.

“So… Queen Bee, was it?” he said, leaning casually on his stick once the two of them had reconvened on the rooftop, “Any idea what exactly we’re dealing with here?”

“Um, obviously it’s some kind of akuma,” said Queen Bee, rolling her eyes as she flicked her blonde and black ponytail over one shoulder, “I’m guessing Ladybug is the brains of the operation.”

“I meant details, Wanna-Bee,” playfully tapping her on the nose, “who are they, what are their powers, where’s the akuma?”

“Oh…” said Queen Bee, who was clearly faintly embarrassed but trying to play it cool, “I haven’t seen them in person yet. But people all over the city becoming enraged over the most ridiculous things.”

“Sounds like the akuma can amplify peoples’ aggression, which means we’ll have to act fast, before the city completely tears itself apart! Where’s Ladybug?”

“How should I know?”

Adrin blinked at her in surprise.

“Wasn’t she the one who gave you a Miraculous? So that you could help out on this mission?”

Queen Bee hesitated for a moment.

“Actually, this Miraculous is all mine. I didn’t get it from anyone. I’m just here to help out on my own!” 

“Is that so?” Adrien raised one eyebrow, “Well I guess the city could always use more heroes. Welcome aboard, Wanna-Bee!” 

“It’s QUEEN Bee!” she said, stamping her foot in frustration.

Adrien couldn’t help but laugh at her childish display of anger. Normally it might have felt a little mean to do so, but she was the one who had insulted him first, so he suspected that she could probably take a little teasing in return.

“Come on, we’d better find the akuma,” he said, “Assuming Ladybug hasn’t already beaten us to it!”

He extended his stick out to its full length, using the momentum to propel himself into the air.

“Hey! Wait for me!”

Queen Bee took off just behind him, and together they headed off deeper into the city, following the path of chaos on the streets beneath them as they honed on its source, not yet knowing that Ladybug had most definitely not beaten them to it.

*

“Marinette, wake up! Wake up!” 

Marinette groaned loudly as consciousness slowly, painfully returned to her. In some ways it felt like only seconds had passed since she returned from visiting Master Fu and collapsed into bed to catch up on some sorely needed sleep, but for her to feel this unpleasantly groggy she knew that she had to have been in an incredibly deep sleep before being roused.

“Tikki?” said Marinette uncertainly, reaching up to rub blearily at her eyes.

“Oh, thank goodness, you’re finally awake!” said Tikki, who was hovering just beside her head, “I’ve been trying to wake you for ten minutes! I’d never seen you so deeply asleep.”

“Well I was tired,” said Marinette, with a yawn, “you’re the one who told me to get some rest so that I’d be ready when the next akuma attacked.”

“That’s the problem, Marinette,” said Tikki, wringing her hands in concern, “The next akuma is here right now!”

“Wait, what!?” said Marinette, immediately sitting bolt upright.

She threw the bed covers off herself and hurried down to the window, looking out at the chaos that was unfolding in the streets. Her muscles still ached with even this very slight exertion, reminding her of just how little time off she had been allowing herself over the past week. Sleep was going to have to wait though; right now the city needed Ladybug and there was nothing that she could do to help that. She could only hope that Cat Noir wasn’t struggling too much out there on his own while he waited for her to arrive! 

“Tikki, Spots On! YAH!” 

It didn’t take long for Marinette to pick up the trail of chaos. The pattern of angry, hostile Parisians was pointing towards the Montparnasse district, and she eventually located Cat Noir perched on the roof of a theatre on the Rue de la Gaîté. For a moment she thought he was crouched right next to the akuma, for he was accompanied by an unfamiliar blonde girl in a yellow and black skin-tight suit. She realised that this couldn’t be the case as she drew closer though, for the real akuma was clearly the emaciated boy they were watching on the street below. 

He was strangely distorted, as if they were viewing him in a funhouse mirror, with long, spindly limbs and a curved, ridged back. His face was gaunt, with empty black holes where his eyes should be, and long, neatly-slicked hair that was tucked beneath the high collar of the frayed black robes that he was wearing. An enormous, velvet-bound notebook was clutched tightly in one skeletal hand, whilst his other hand was scribbling furiously with a feather quill. He towered over the crowd of Parisians surrounding him, all of whom seemed to either be arguing with each other or screaming abuse at the business around them.

“Nice of you to finally join us, My Lady,” said Cat Noir, as she landed on the rooftop beside them.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Kitty,” said Marinette, “Who’s your friend?”

The ‘friend’ in question was staring at her with a wide-eyed expression of complete and utter admiration, to the extent that she almost felt slightly uncomfortable at being the target of it.

“Oh wow!” said the unfamiliar girl, “It’s really you! Here! And now we get to be on a superhero team together! This is just what I’ve always dreamed of!”

“Um…”

Marinette really didn’t know how to respond to that.

“I think what she means to say is that she’s Queen Bee,” said Cat Noir, “Apparently she’s here to help.”

“Wait… Bee!?” said Marinette, her eyes widening in alarm, “As in Bee Miraculous!?”

In an instant her eyes flicked to the distinctive comb in Queen Bee’s hair, the exact one that she had spent the best part of the last week searching in vain for.

“Where did you get that?!”

“Where did you get your Miraculous?” replied Queen Bee, suddenly defensive.

“Okay, no, I know where you got it,” said Marinette, once again reliving in her mind that horrible moment when she’d dropped the box containing it off the side of the Eiffel Tower, “The point is that I’m going to need it back!”

“No way!” said Queen Bee, immediately covering the comb with both of her hands, “I found it, fair and square, so it’s mine now!”

“Um, guys,” said Cat Noir.

“That isn’t how it works!” said Marinette, “I made a serious mistake losing that Miraculous and I need to set it right!”

“But I can help you!” said Queen Bee, “Please, can’t you at least give me a chance!? I just want to be a hero, like you, Ladybug!”

“Guys.”

“Look,” said Marinette, placing a hand on Queen Bee’s shoulder, “I suspect that your heart is probably in the right place, “but I made a promise, and I can’t just…”

“GUYS!” said Cat Noir, in obvious frustration.

“WHAT!?” said Marinette and Queen Bee, turning to face him in perfect unison.

By way of response Cat Noir simply pointed one clawed finger down at the street, and the two girls slowly turned their heads to see the entire crowd staring up at them, including the akumatized villain himself.

“Are the two of you quite finished?” he said, in a voice that sounded like nails being dragged across stone.

The three heroes immediately straightened up, their argument momentarily forgotten in the face of a more pressing issue.

“Whatever it is you’re doing to the people of Paris it stops now!” said Marinette, pointing authoritatively down at him. 

The gaunt monstrosity laughed, a horrific sound that made all three of them shudder.

“I am simply pointing out the flaws that were already there,” he said, as he held one hand up to his chest, “Deep down, they all know that Critique is ultimately correct. Allow me to demonstrate!”

He raised his quill and began to scribble something into the notebook, which glowed with power as Critique’s words filled the page.

“The akuma has to be in the notebook,” muttered Cat Noir, as the three of them watched carefully.

Critique finished writing with a flourish, and smirked as he closed the notebook again with a snap. The crowd of people around him seemed to grow dazed for a moment, several of them reaching up to clutch at their heads, but then one by one they all slowly turned their heads to stare at the heroes once more, their eyes burning and hatred.

“Ladybug and Cat Noir have failed us as heroes!” cried one man.

“The city is lost! Hawk Moth cannot be stopped!” yelled another.

“They don’t deserve to have Miraculous anymore!” screamed a woman.

“Well then, what are you wait for, my loyal followers?” said Critique, with a chuckle, “Seize those failed heroes and take their Miraculous!”

All at once the crowd began to rush forward, some of them even going so far as to push other members of the mob aside in their haste. Any hope that the heroes might have had of their high vantage point protecting them was lost as the crowd reached the base of the building, for many of them simply began to scale the walls, howling with rage and hurling abuse at the protectors of Paris as they did so.

“Any ideas, My Lady?” said Cat Noir, as the three of them backed up away from the edge of the building.

“We have to get the akuma before these people hurt themselves!” said Marinette.

“On it!” said Cat Noir.

He dashed forward and leaped from the building, intending to dive down onto Critique. Unfortunately however one of the mob had already managed to reach the lip of the rooftop, and as Cat Noir bounded overhead he reached out and firmly grabbed onto the hero’s ankle. Cat Noir let out an involuntary cry of alarm as he was plucked out of the air, spinning around and slamming face-first into the side of the building instead. Several more members of the mob immediately seized him, reaching to take his ring as they did so, however he quickly activated his power to stop them:

“CATACLYSM!”

His Miraculous was immediately charged with destructive power, and the hands reaching to take it were withdrawn, although the mob still firmly held him in place, even as more people climbed past them in an effort to reach Ladybug.

“Let’s get out of here!” said Queen Bee, backing up further from the edge, “We can come up with a plan and-”

“No!” said Marinette sharply, “We can’t leave Cat Noir! There’s only a few minutes now till he transforms back.”

She withdrew her Yo-yo and cast it dramatically into the air.

“LUCKY CHARM!”

With a swirl of creative magical energy a red and black spotted stuffed toy in the shape of a cartoon honeybee materialized in the air above her, and she caught it as it dropped down.

“A toy bee? What am I supposed to do with this?”

She looked around, taking in the book that Critique was holding, then the mob of Parisians clambering up onto the rooftop, and then finally her new unwanted surprise ally.

“Of course! New girl, you have to get the notebook!”

“I have a name you know!” snapped Queen Bee, “It’s-”

“No!” cried Marinette, quickly cutting across her, “Don’t say your name! Didn’t you notice? The mob isn’t saying anything about you. Critique can’t turn people against you because he doesn’t know what to call you in his notebook!”

“But… what about them?” said Queen Bee, gesturing to the people rapidly approaching them.

“Leave them to me!” said Marinette, “Now go! You want to be a hero? Now’s your chance to prove yourself!”

Queen Bee’s gaze shifted uncertainly for a moment, then she steeled herself and nodded.

“I won’t let you down, Ladybug!”

*

Chloé took a deep breath.

_Alright, Queen Bee, you can do this! Time to make your future self proud!_

She darted forward, ducking around the advancing Parisians. Just as Ladybug had deduced the mesmerized mob seemed completely uninterested in stopping her, and she was able to leap down to street level without being grabbed like Cat Noir had been. The black-clad hero had been dragged down off the side of the building at this point, and Chloé instinctively cast her spinning top towards the people holding him, wrapping it around them several times before pulling sharply on the chord to drag them away from Cat Noir. He breathed a sigh of relief as he found himself free again, though he quickly had to dodge again as more people attempted to recapture him. 

With that done then she turned her attention to Critique, who raised one eyebrow as he saw her approach.

“And who are you supposed to be?”

“You’ll know my name soon enough!” said Chloé.

She dashed towards him and made a grab for the notebook, but he pulled it away, unnaturally contorting his body as he stepped around her. She tried again, this time sweeping her leg beforehand in an attempt to trip him, but he continued to dodge every blow, gaunt body twisting in an inhuman manner to constantly remain out of range. 

“I know exactly who you are,” said Critique, “You’re a pathetic make-believe hero who couldn’t accomplish even a tenth of what Ladybug does.”

“SHUT UP!” snarled Chloé, “I am not pathetic and I am not playing make-believe! I am superheroine! I’m Queen Bee, and I’m the one who’s going to stop you!”

“Wait, no!” cried Ladybug too late from up on the rooftop, where she was narrowly fending off the mob with her yo-yo.

Critique let out his horrible laugh again.

“Queen Bee, huh? Well then, let’s see how everyone feels about you in just a second.”

He opened his notebook again and began to scribble into it, and that was when Chloé made her move. Contrary to what some of the people in her class thought, she wasn’t an idiot, and it was not an accident that she had given him her name. If he was busy writing criticism of her then he wouldn’t be able to properly concentrate on dodging, and if he wasn’t dodging then he was a perfect target for her…

"VENOM!”

The tip of her stinger entered Critique’s leg, and he immediately froze, quill stuck half-way through his sentence. Chloé wasted no time in snatching the notebook out of his hand and throwing it to Cat Noir, who caught it in his Miraculous hand, the stored Cataclysm energy swiftly reducing the book to dust and releasing the troublesome little black butterfly within.

“No more evil doing for you, little akuma,” said Ladybug, from her vantage point up on the roof, “It’s time to de-evilize!”

She swept up the akuma into her yo-yo, and a moment later popped it open again to release the now purified butterfly back into the night sky.

“Bye-bye, little butterfly!” 

Purple energy swirled around Critique for a moment, shrinking him down again before melting away to reveal the confused form of Marc Anciel sitting on the ground instead. Ladybug hurled the toy bee into the air, summoning the magical swarm of ladybugs that would repair all of the damage caused during Critique’s brief reign of terror, before leaping down to join the other two heroes on the ground.

“Pound it!” stated all three in unison bumping their fists together in the centre.

“Ladybug?” said Marc in obvious confusion, “Cat Noir? What’s going on?”

“You were akumatized,” said Ladybug, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder, “But it’s over now. I don’t have long before I’m going to transform back though, will you be alright getting home on your own?”

“Yes, I think so,” he said, nodding, “Thank you, Ladybug! And you, Cat Noir! And… um…”

He looked at Chloé uncertainly.

“Queen Bee.”

“Thanks, Queen Bee!”

It felt incredibly strange to be thanked by him, considering that she was fairly certain that it was her comments that morning that had ultimately led to his akumatizataion, and she waved the thanks away as if it were nothing.

“Queen Bee, can I speak to you for a second?” said Ladybug.

She glanced up at the rooftop again, and a moment later the three heroes had reconvened up there.

“I’m still going to need that Miraculous back,” said Ladybug, holding out her hand expectantly.

Chloé bristled angrily, and once again clamped both her hands defensively over the comb.

“But I helped you!” she said, taking a step back, “You’d both have been completely overwhelmed if it wasn’t for me!”

It wasn’t fair! She’d just proven that she was a superheroine as well, hadn’t she? Why should she have to surrender her Miraculous after saving the day like that!?

“She does kind of have a point,” said Cat Noir.

“I know, and I’m grateful, I really am, but it’s my responsibility to keep the Miraculous safe,” said Ladybug.

“It is safe with me!” said Chloé, “I promise! Please, Ladybug, I just want to be on your team!”

Ladybug opened her mouth to protest further, but was interrupted by the beeping from her earring.

“Alright,” she said, with a sigh, “I don’t have time to argue about this right now, so you can keep it for tonight, but this conversation isn’t over! Bug out!”

She took off, swinging away into the city.

“Well I for one am looking forward to working with you again,” said Cat Noir, with a grin, “Nice job out there, Wanna-Bee!”

He winked, before leaping away as well, skillfully twirling his stick around over his head to carry him further.

“That’s Queen Bee!” she called after him

He was already long gone though, and she sighed as she found herself alone once more. She honestly wasn’t entirely sure how she had expected Ladybug to react, but she’d certainly been hoping that she’d be at least a little bit enthused at the idea of having a new partner. It was hard not to feel rejected, regardless of her idol’s motivations.

As she began to zip her way back towards home though Chloé knew one thing for sure; she had absolutely no intention of handing her Miraculous over.


	4. Denial

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloé’s future self told her that she was in denial about something, and as she begins to work out what exactly that thing might be she finds herself going to an unexpected source for advice. But will her former victims be willing to help?

“Dark Wings Fall.”

Nathalie casually flicked open her glasses and slid them back into place as the Hawk Moth costume faded away, and picked up her tablet from the table where she had left it. She had expected to feel more of a sense of defeat from failing to capture Ladybug and Cat Noir’s Miraculous, as she had watched her employer fail to do time and time again, but she was actually feeling surprisingly positive about the experience. Critique may have ultimately failed, but at one point he’d had Cat Noir thoroughly at his mercy, with Ladybug simultaneously backed up into a corner. It was only the intervention of an unknown fourth party that had foiled her plan, something that couldn’t possibly have been accounted for. All in all, she wasn’t even remotely discouraged by the defeat, she was simply intrigued by this new heroine whose presence seemed to surprise even Ladybug.

Nooroo opened his mouth to say something, however she raised one finger to silence him, too absorbed in her work for idle chatter. Her fingertips danced across the tablet screen as she scanned through news footage, both professional and amateur, looking for any information she could find about this new player in the city. The mysterious blonde girl had called herself _‘Queen Bee’_ and a search for this name uncovered a brief televised interview with a shopkeeper who claimed that her boutique had been saved by the heroine. Commenters on the interview were already speculating about the new heroine, and a link that one of them had posted led Nathalie to a clip of some shaky mobile phone footage of Queen Bee up on the theatre rooftop with Ladybug and Cat Noir, as recorded from the window of a nearby building.

The footage was recorded from too far away to hear what the heroes were saying, but the body language of Ladybug and Queen Bee was clear. Ladybug wanted to take the hair comb that Queen Bee was wearing, which Nathalie recognised from the spell book in Gabriel’s possession as being the Bee Miraculous, but the new heroine was refusing to give it up. Evidently Queen Bee was not a trusted ally of Ladybug, as Rena Rouge appeared to be from their observations, but some other person who had managed to get her hands on a misplaced Miraculous, just as Gabriel had done. And if Ladybug didn’t trust her, then perhaps there was a good reason for that.

“Nooroo,” said Nathalie, finally glancing up at the Kwami again, “Tell me everything that you know about the Bee Miraculous.”

*

“You seem to be in a really good mood today, Chloé!” said Sabrina, as she carried their bags up the front stairs of the Collège Françoise Dupont. 

Chloé smirked. Of course she was in a good mood! Just last night she had fought side by side with Ladybug, the person in the world whom she genuinely admired more than anyone else, and together they had saved Paris! The feeling of exhilaration still buzzed within her, and was only fueled by every additional person that she passed on the way into school who was discussing the mysterious new superhero. It was easy to accept why her alternate future self had revealed her secret identity to the world, for even with the dire warning that she had received Chloé was tempted to do exactly that and bask in the attention. She had made a promise to herself though, and she was determined to stick to it, so all she could do was continue to smirk.

“Why wouldn’t I be in a good mood?” she said, placing one hand haughtily upon her chest as she spoke, “It’s amazing to… be… me…”

She trailed off, eyes narrowing as they fell upon the one person in the world whose presence consistently bothered her more than anyone else: Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

For as long as Chloé could remember she had harbored an intense feeling of loathing towards Marinette, ever since they had first locked eyes from opposite sides of a classroom. Or at least… she was pretty sure that it was loathing? Her pulse would race uncontrollably, and her head would reel with thoughts spiraling around far too quickly for her even begin to process any of them, and she had quickly learned that the easiest way to alleviate these sensations was to be as obnoxious as possible and drive Marinette away again, so it had always made sense to Chloé to classify it as pure and simple hatred. 

Something had been gnawing away at her for the past week though. It was one of the last things her future self had said to her before disappearing, and since she had spent most of the week waiting on the roof of the hotel for Hawk Moth to make his move she’d had plenty of time to think about it:

_“Oh wow, I really was in denial back then, wasn’t I?”_

She had gone through every aspect of her life trying to find things that she could possibly be in denial about, but had drawn a blank everywhere she looked. 

Everywhere except possibly…

No! 

No way. 

She _despised_ Dupain-Cheng, and the idea that something could ever change that was ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous! 

At that exact moment the baker’s daughter was stammering her way through a conversation with Adrien, and Chloé’s lip’s pursed for a moment as she saw a perfect opportunity to demonstrate just how thoroughly _not_ in denial about anything she actually was! She waved Sabrina away in the direction of their classroom, and then stalked her way across the courtyard.

“ADRIKINS!”

She swooped in between them, bumping Marinette out of the way with her hip in order to drape herself around Adrien’s shoulders.

“Oh, hey, Chloé!” said Adrien, giving her his usual slightly awkward smile.

“I hope you were safe during all the chaos last night,” said Chloé, batting her eyelashes so rapidly that she wouldn’t have been surprised if Adrien felt a breeze, “I know I was terrified until that mysterious and beautiful new superheroine showed up to save the day basically single-handedly.”

“Ladybug and Cat Noir were there too, you know,” said Marinette, who was glaring from where she had been shunted to, “It wasn’t exactly what I’d call single-handedly.”

“Who asked you, Dupain-Cheng?” said Chloé, glancing scornfully back over her shoulder at her. 

Marinette’s hair almost seemed to glimmer in the morning light, perfectly bringing out the colour of her eyes, which reminded Chloé of the sight of clear skies at last after a long rainstorm. She was scowling, presumably in response to being pushed aside and belittled, but rather than being off-putting the expression only served to make her nose wrinkle adorably, and Chloé was suddenly extremely aware of the curve of her lips, even as they flicked down into a tight grimace. 

Chloé gulped, butterflies forming in her stomach, and she immediately turned her attention back to Adrien, focusing intently on him instead. His blond hair was… fine? Perfectly styled, as it always was. And his eyes were… there. They were there. They existed. That was all that she could say about them. He was still giving her a polite, placid smile, even as he gently shrugged off her embrace.

“I was fine,” he said, “My father’s security is second to none, so even though a few agitated people did come to the gate none of them actually got inside. It was pretty scary though!”

“Poor Adrikins,” said Chloé, reaching up to cup his cheek gently with one hand, “If only you could have come to me. I’d have kept you safe!”

“I thought you just said you were terrified too,” said Marinette.

This time Chloé kept her gaze firmly locked on Adrien, not daring to confront whatever thoughts might bubble up again if she actually looked at Marinette, and she instead simply made a dismissive gesture towards her as she had done to wave away Sabrina. Marinette bristled and opened her mouth to say something else, however at that moment she was steered away by Alya, who had been standing nearby.

“Forget it girl, she’s not worth it. Come on, I’ll tell you all about the article I’m working on for the Ladyblog. It’s all about who this new Bee heroine might be under the mask!”

Chloé breathed a sigh of relief as she found herself alone with Adrien. It was a lot easier to remember that she despised Marinette when she wasn’t standing right there, and now she was free to focus on Adrien and forget all that utterly ridiculous nonsense about being in denial over anything. She stared intently at him (perhaps a little _too_ intently, if his expression was anything to judge by), trying determinedly to view him in the same light she’d seen Marinette in during that brief glance. He was a model, for heaven’s sake! There had to be _something_ about his face that she found appealing!

It was almost a relief when the bell rang to signal the start of the school day, because it gave her an excuse to finally stop staring at the poor confused boy. Heading to class did unfortunately mean being in the same room as Marinette again, however for the first time that year Chloé was actually thankful that she had ended up stuck at the very front of the room, because it meant that she wouldn’t have to look at Marinette even once.  
And having her out of sight surely meant that she would also be out of mind, right?

*

It did not.

Chloé wasn’t sure she took in a single piece of information from the entire day’s worth of lessons, so distracted was she by the turbulent mass of thoughts swirling constantly around in her head. She barely even noticed when the final bell rang and people began to casually file out of the classroom again, instead simply playing the scene from that morning over in her mind again for the thousandth time. She had felt nothing when she stared at Adrien that morning. Nothing! How was that even possible!? He was everything! He was her Adrikens! He was everything that every girl in Paris wanted, wasn’t he!?

Or _was_ he?

Rose and Juleka happened to pass by her desk at that moment, walking hand in hand and casually chatting about something or other as they headed out of the classroom. Chloé had seen them together a million times before, everyone in the school had, but she’d never really put any thought before into how _close_ they always seemed to be.

“Is something wrong, Chloé?” said Sabrina, suddenly interrupting her train of thought, “You’ve seemed distracted all day.”

“What?” said Chloé, blinking several times, “Who me? I’m fine! Utterly fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”

She gave an unconvincing laugh, and then glanced back at Rose and Juleka, who had paused just outside the classroom to talk to… urgh, not Marinette again! Why did that girl have to be everywhere today, both in her thoughts and out of them! Thankfully Adrien was still at his desk, putting his things away whilst chatting to Nino, and so in an effort to distract herself Chloé stalked up to him again.

“Adrikens,” she said, hooking her arm around his, “How would you like to go and get ice cream together? My treat!”

She batted her eyelids again so forcefully that she almost expected Nino’s hat to go flying off from the gust.

“Sorry, Chloé,” said Adrien, smiling apologetically, “I have fencing practice in a little bit, so I don’t really have time today. Another time, maybe.”

He squirmed free of her grip and headed out of the classroom, Nino following close behind him. Chloé couldn’t help but feel that she should have been more annoyed at his refusal, but other than the usual slight sting of not getting her own way she was surprised at how frustratingly little she seemed to actually care about it.

Sabrina sidled up to her, both of their bags dangling from her arms.

“We could get ice cream together,” she said, her voice hopeful, “If you want to, that is.”

Chloé sighed.

“I guess,” she said, not feeling particularly enthusiastic about the idea.

She led the way out into the courtyard, where a few people had stopped to look up at something. Chloé followed their gaze upward, and spotted a man on a glider high up above the school, a bouquet of flowers clutched in his hand. He seemed to have lost control of the aerial vehicle in the wind, and was swerving wildly back and forth across the sky, yelling in alarm as he did so. She instinctively reached up and touched the Miraculous that sat camouflaged in her hair, half-wondering if this was another opportunity for Queen Bee to shine. She hesitated though, since there didn’t seem to be any akuma involved as far as she could tell, and as she stared undecidedly up at the sky she saw Ladybug suddenly swing past as well, followed a few moments later by Cat Noir.

This made up her mind for her. Ladybug and Cat Noir could more than handle something as pedestrian as this without her assistance, and the last thing she was in the mood for right now was another argument about handing over her miraculous, this time without the escape that Ladybug’s need to transform back had given her last night.

As she turned her attention back to the courtyard however she noticed that Rose and Juleka also hadn’t left yet. They were stood casually leaning against the railing as Rose showed Juleka something on her phone, presumably footage from the dramatic aerial rescue going on above the city based on their concerned expressions. Chloé pursed her lips as an idea suddenly occurred to her, and she looked around to make sure that Marinette was nowhere to be seen. Normally she wouldn’t have been caught dead willingly being seen associating with either of them, but desperate times called for desperate measures, and there were certain questions that Chloé needed to get off her chest if she was ever going to be able to pay attention in school again.

Besides, who else was she supposed to talk to about it? Her parents? Her butler? Sabrina!? Hah! As if! Not that any of them would really have the answers she wanted anyway.

“Actually Sabrina, I’m going to need to cancel the ice cream,” said Chloé, taking her bag back from the redhead and shooing her away in one smooth motion, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“But-”

“I said I’ll see you tomorrow!” snapped Chloé.

Sabrina nodded meekly, and scurried away down the iron steps without another word. Once she was gone Chloé sighed, and took a moment to steel herself before approaching the couple staring at the phone. 

“Hey, you!” she said, planting her arms firmly on her hips as she stood before them.

Rose squeaked in alarm and almost dropped her phone, but Juleka steadied her hand in time before glaring coldly at this newcomer.

“What do you want?” she said, her voice little more than a mumble as usual.

“I-” began Chloé in her usual harsh tone, before realising that it may be better to soften her approach somewhat, “Um… I was hoping to talk to the two of you about something.”

“W-what kind of something?” said Rose, carefully putting her phone away before anything else could happen to it.

“It’s… um…”

Chloé sighed.

“Look, could we maybe go somewhere more private? I’m pretty sure Mr. Darkblade, or whatever his name is, is already beginning to set up for fencing practice down there.” 

She gestured down to the courtyard, where true to her word Mr. D’Argencourt and a handful of assistants were indeed beginning to set out the fencing mats.

“I don’t see why we should,” said Juleka, “This is probably just some kind of trick.” 

“That’s ridiculous!” snapped Chloé, “I wouldn’t try to… okay, no, I totally would try to trick you, but I’m not tricking you now, I promise.”

Rose and Juleka exchanged a glance, clearly still unconvinced, and Chloé sighed again.

“How about we go to a café or something? I’ll pay, I just… I don’t want anyone else from school to overhead. It’s… personal, okay?”

They exchanged another glance, and for a moment Juleka looked as if she was about to turn Chloé down flat, however before she could actually say as much Rose spoke up instead.

“Alright then,” she said, smiling up at Chloé as boldly as she dared.

*

Chloé took an incredibly long sip of the milkshake on the table before her, draining almost half of the contents in one go as she desperately stalled for time whilst she composed her thoughts again. The three of them had made their way to a nearby café, albeit rather reluctantly on Juleka’s part and rather nervously on Rose’s, and had positioned themselves at a table right back in the furthest corner with their ordered treats. Chloé made sure to sit facing the door so that she would see immediately if anyone else from school happened to wander in, and was now painfully aware of Rose and Juleka both staring at her as they waited for her to explain what all of this was about.

“Before I say anything else,” began Chloé, at long last, “You both have to swear that you won’t say a word about this to anyone else! Got it!? Not a word!”

It was clear from Juleka’s expression, even just the little of it that could actually be seen from behind her hair, that she really didn’t think Chloé was in any position to demand things, however Rose was more understanding.

“I can tell this is important to you, so we promise,” she said, with a nod, “Right, Juleka?

Juleka smiled weakly down at her, and nodded as well.

“Good,” said Chloé, “That is… um… thank you.”

She lapsed into silence again, and idly stirred the remaining contents of her glass with the straw for several seconds.

“You two…” she said, once she had finally found her voice again, “You’re _together_ , right?”

“Yes?” said Rose, in apparent confusion, “We’re both here, aren’t we?”

“No, I mean…”

Chloé sighed once more.

“You’re like, a couple, right?”

“Oh!” said Rose, her eyes lighting up with understanding, “OH! Is that what this is about?”

She took Juleka’s hand again, who squeezed it encouragingly. 

“Yes, we’re a couple,” said Rose, beaming brightly as she did so, “We have been for… four months now?”

“Five,” said Juleka.

“Right! Five months now!” said Rose, blushing slightly, “Or at least it’s only been official for five months. I like to think that we’ve really been together for a lot longer than that though.” 

Chloé nodded. That made sense, and confirmed a suspicion that she had long held regarding a certain incident on the bus back when Miss Bustier had been akumatized. Knowing this didn’t make her next question any easier to ask though though, and she clutched at the fabric of her capris so tightly that her knuckles turned almost as while as the cloth. She stared down at her milkshake, suddenly not willing to meet their eyes as she spoke.

“How did…” She gulped. “How did you know?”

“Know?” repeated Juleka.

“That you… you know… liked girls instead of boys?”

She regretted asking the question the moment it left her lips, both from what she might have just revealed but also because of how childish it sounded actually said aloud. Neither of them seemed to mind however, and as she finally risked a glance up at them she was relieved to find that Rose was still smiling.

“I don’t,” she said, before hastily correcting herself, “That is, obviously I _do_ like girls, but it’s as well as liking boys, not instead.”

“Oh…” said Chloé, unsure how else to respond.

“I only like girls,” said Juleka, with a shrug, “At least as far as I’ve noticed.”

“As for how I knew…” continued Rose, tapping her chin with one finger as she thought about it, “I guess I just never saw any distinction between liking girls and liking boys. It always just felt the same to me!”

Chloé frowned, thinking back to how she had reacted to both Marinette and Adrien that morning. That didn’t sound much like her situation at all.

“For me it was Rose,” said Juleka, using her free hand to ruffle her girlfriend’s hair affectionately, “I’d just never felt the same way about anyone before as I do about her.”

Rose beamed even more brightly at this, and leaned gently against Juleka’s shoulder.

“I think liking somebody is always the same though, whoever it is,” said Rose, “They’ll make your heart race, you’ll get butterflies in your stomach, and you’ll find that you just can’t get them out of your head no matter how hard you try!”

That sounded a lot more familiar, and Chloé gulped nervously. It… it wasn’t _really_ possible that she could actually be attracted to Marinette Dupain-Cheng of all people, could it!? She had spent years convincing herself that her and Adrien were meant to be, but she had never felt any of the sensations that Rose was describing around him. He was always just old, familiar Adrien. But to set her pulse racing and her head reeling… there was only one person who had such a powerful effect on her.

It suddenly occurred to Chloé that she may in fact have been a colossal idiot all this time.

She took another long sip of her milkshake, slowly draining the remainder of it as she quietly processed all of this.

“If you don’t mind me asking,” said Rose, in an even gentler voice than she usually used, which was saying something, “Is the reason you’re asking this because you think you might like girls too?”

“W-what!?” said Chloé, immediately straightening up in her seat, “N-no, of course not! That would be ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous! I was just curious… in fact, I wasn’t even curious! I had a friend who was curious and I was asking on their behalf. In fact… they’re not even really a friend. More of a casual acquaintance really, and they wanted me to find someone else to ask so that I could then tell them and… and… and…” 

She bit her lip for a moment, and then stared down at her empty glass again.

“Yes, I think I might like girls too, and not boys at all.”

She couldn’t believe what she had just said, or who she had said it to! Her eyes immediately hardened, and she glared suspiciously at the two of them.

“You can’t tell anyone else about this! Remember!? You promised this would remain between us!”

“Of course we won’t tell anyone,” said Rose, holding up her hand reassuringly, “We’d never do that.”

“Yeah, that would be totally uncool,” said Juleka.

“Until you’re ready to tell people it’s nobody’s business but your own who you do and don’t like,” said Rose, smiling sweetly, “But if you ever do need somebody to talk to about it, we’re here to listen.”

She glanced up at Juleka, who seemed less convinced about this last part, but nodded anyway.

“But… why?” said Chloé in confusion, "I’ve been terrible to you over the years! I’ve been terrible to everyone! I don’t deserve any of this!”

“You have,” agreed Rose, as Juleka nodded silently, “But I believe everyone should have someone they can talk to about this kind of thing, and if that has to be me for you then so be it. I’m happy to help.”

Chloé stared at her dumfounded. Rose had always been almost disconcertingly nice, but this seemed to take the cake, even for her. Not that she was going to complain about it, of course, not in this instance at least.

“Though you could maybe try and be _less_ terrible to people,” added Juleka quietly, as Rose nodded in agreement, “just as an idea.”

“R-right,” said Chloé, shrinking slightly in her seat from the awkwardness of this whole situation, “Um… thank you.”

“It’s nothing,” said Rose.

It wasn’t nothing, though. It was everything! Even though Chloé knew that she would never actually admit it.


	5. Chase

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloé comes up with a plan to try and get closer to Marinette, however it seems that Ladybug has other ideas.

When Chloé entered the classroom the following day she was greeted by an encouraging smile from Rose, which surprised her so much that she was only able to stand there at the front of the classroom dumfounded for several seconds before slowly, awkwardly returning it. A few of the other students evidently noticed this interaction, and Chloé spotted several raised eyebrows, however she did her best to ignore them and simply slid into her seat beside Sabrina. It was honestly a relief that Marinette seemed to have missed it completely, since the last thing that Chloé wanted at this point was for even the slightest inkling of her feelings to get back to her. Not before she was absolutely ready. As it was though Marinette was thoroughly distracted talking to Alya about something, and though Chloé tried to casually listen in, from where she was sitting she could only make out a few frantically whispered references to ice skating, and the conversation stopped altogether when Adrien walked in and took his seat in front her.

Chloé had spent most of the previous evening mulling over her conversation with Rose and Juleka, trying to come to terms with this huge shift in her personal sense of identity. It certainly explained a confusing mess of feelings that she had been either actively repressing or just completely misunderstanding, though she was admittedly at something of a loss as to what to do now. She had walked away from Rose and Juleka with an open invitation to approach them again if she ever needed someone to talk to, though she wasn’t sure she’d ever actually take them up on it, since it came with the provision that she try to be less mean to people in general, and that was a habit that would take a ridiculous amount of unlearning. 

Then again… could it be worth it?

After all, it wasn’t just an attraction to girls in general that she was beginning to accept about herself: it was an attraction to _Marinette Dupain-Cheng_.

Stupid, obnoxiously perfect Marinette.

Marinette was never going to like the same girl who had tormented her all this time. What was she even supposed to say?

_“Oh sorry, Dupain-Cheng, I was dumb and mistook love for hate and picked on you for years because I couldn’t handle what I was feeling towards you and wanted to drive you away. Whoopsie! Anyway, date me?”_

Even just in her head it sounded ridiculous! At best she would think it was some kind of practical joke, and at worst she would be either angry, horrified or disgusted, and Chloé honestly wasn’t sure which of those reactions would upset her the most. It was entirely possible that she had managed to ruin her chances of ever exploring these feelings she was having before she even understood what they actually were. 

Sure, she could _try_ and be a better person, to make amends for everything that she had put people through, but the idea of changing herself so radically was… well… terrifying.

She was so distracted by this train of thought that she missed almost the entirety of the first few lessons, and it was only when she was checking her reflection in a mirror during a break and caught sight of the Miraculous nestling camouflaged in her hair that an idea finally occurred to her. She gasped, her expression slowly changing into a grin as she gazed at the comb.

Chloé Bourgeois may have already ruined her chances with Marinette… but _Queen Bee_ hadn’t.

*

Nathalie shifted her weight very slightly as she stood to attention in Gabriel’s atelier, waiting for her employer to finally look up from his work and acknowledge her arrival. It was a subtle gesture, almost imperceptible to the naked eye, but it betrayed how nervous she was about this particular summons. She hadn’t actually spoken to Gabriel since relinquishing the Butterfly Miraculous back to him on the night of Critique’s brief reign of chaos, and although he had said very little at the time it had been clear to someone who knew him as well as she did that he had been furious with her for using it without his permission.

She stood by her decision though. Gabriel had needed a push back onto his path, and if bearing the brunt of a little anger was the price that she had to pay for doing so then she was more than willing to bear it for his sake.

“I suppose I should thank you,” said Gabriel at long last, pressing a button to switch off the screen that he had been working at, “I’ve had time to think about what happened two nights ago, and I see now that you were right.”

Nathalie breathed a quiet sigh of relief, hoping that her employer didn’t actually notice the release of tension. 

“Audrey Bourgeois was my masterpiece, and when she failed, I thought I had no more in me,” he continued, turning to stare up at the portrait of Emilie that dominated the back wall, “It felt like Ladybug and Cat Noir were incapable of making mistakes like I so often seemed to, and I confess that I fell into a brief despair. But if what you hypothesize is indeed true, and this new hero is the product of a mistake made by Ladybug, then that proves they are anything but infallible. That proves that there is still hope.” 

He gazed directly into the eyes of the painting, and sighed.

“I can’t allow myself to give up, Nathalie. I miss her too much. I’m seeing this through, no matter how many times I fail along the way. So for now…”

He half turned to face her for a moment, and gave a rare smile.

“I think it’s time to get back to work.” 

He turned back to the painting and pressed the secret buttons to activate the elevator platform that would take him to his lair, and Nathalie watched as he disappeared into the floor. She waited until she was certain that he was gone, and then allowed herself the luxury of another sigh. She knew deep down that it was for the best that Gabriel’s crusade as Hawk Moth resume, but it was still difficult to not imagine what might have happened if she had allowed it to fade. Where his attentions may have eventually drifted instead…

She shook her head. Those were nothing but idle thoughts, and she didn’t have time for them. Her own feelings were secondary; she would support Gabriel in whatever ways were needed, for as long as proved necessary.

She had made her choice. She could only follow the path that lay before her now.

*

Chloé was out of her seat the moment the final bell rung, barely remembering to throw her possessions back into her bag in her haste to exit the classroom. Sabrina squeaked in surprised at the sudden motion, scrambling to follow her and very nearly leaving her own bag behind in the process. She followed Chloé out into the courtyard, stumbling slightly as she tried to catch up with her friend, who was already rapidly descending to ground level.

“H-hold up, Chloé!” she said, the metal stairs clanging loudly beneath her feet.

Chloé didn’t stop however, and Sabrina had to all but jog in order to finally catch up with her.

“I was thinking we could get that Ice Cream today,” she said, allowing a hint of cautious optimism to creep into her voice as she fell into lockstep beside her friend, “If you’re not busy, that is.”

“Does it look like I’m not busy!?” said Chloé, pushing herself to walk even faster in an attempt to emphasize her point, “I don’t have time for you today, Sabrina. Go and bother someone else.” 

She made a dismissive waving gesture to Sabrina, who fell back again, her face crestfallen. Chloé was too wrapped up in her own scheme to notice this however, and quickly headed out of the school entirely, retreating to a nearby alleyway and looking around to make sure that nobody was watching before opening her bag to release the Kwami hiding within.

“Is there a mission, My Queen?” said Pollen, flitting up to hover at eye level before bowing deeply. 

“Yes, and it’s of vital importance!” said Chloé, as she made sure that her Miraculous was secure, “We don’t have a moment to lose. Pollen, Buzz On!” 

With a rush of transformative energy Pollen was absorbed into the comb, and Chloé couldn’t help but pose dramatically as the now familiar Queen Bee costume materialized around her. She immediately grabbed her spinning top, aiming it up at a nearby chimney like a grappling hook and using it to rapidly pull herself up onto the rooftop. From there she skipped across to another nearby building, positioning herself so that she had a good view of the school’s entrance, from which the other students were beginning to fan out. It was a little difficult to make out specific faces from that distance, though it turned out to be relatively task easy to hone in on her target, since Marinette was surrounded by most of the other girls from their class.

They moved away from the school in a group, clearly heading for some shared destination, and Chloé followed from the rooftops, keeping a careful distance but not letting the group get so far away that she might lose them. She wasn’t entirely sure what she was planning to do, but if the opportunity arose to talk with Marinette alone she wanted to be ready for it.

Assuming she didn’t chicken out, that was.

*

As it happened, at that moment Marinette and her friends were on their way to the _Liberty_ , the colourful boat that Juleka and her family called home, in order to discuss the pressing issue of Marinette having accidentally offered to go ice skating with Adrien and Kagami the following day. She had been in something of a daze all day since her conversation with Adrien that morning, however as the group turned a corner on their way down to the Seine she caught a glimpse of something moving in her peripheral vision, and turned her head just in time to see a blonde girl in a black and yellow costume leap between two buildings.

She gasped.

Queen Bee!

She hadn’t seen the mysterious new heroine since their defeat of Critique, but now seemed like the perfect opportunity to get a chance to talk to her without any time pressure from having used her powers, which was something that she was very eager to do.

“A-actually, I just remembered something!” said Marinette, speaking up loudly enough to get the group’s attention, “I promised my parents I’d take care of something back at the bakery after school. I should really go take care of that!”

“Are you sure it can’t wait?” said Alya, concern in her voice, “It sounds to me like you need some serious help from us!”

“Yes! I mean… no! I mean… you guys go on ahead, I’ll catch up with you! It shouldn’t take too long,” said Marinette, rubbing the back of her neck nervously.

The rest of the group exchanged glances, but they eventually agreed, and Marinette waved them off before doubling back and ducking into an alleyway.

“I don’t remember you making any promises today,” said Tikki, as Marinette released the Kwami from her purse.

“I just spotted Queen Bee,” said Marinette, as she made absolutely certain that she wasn’t being observed, “I can’t pass up this chance to talk to her and get the Miraculous back. Tikki, Spots On! YAH!”

*

Chloé wasn’t entirely sure at what point Marinette had stopped following the group. Her focus had drifted slightly as she tried to decide what she was actually going to say if she did get the chance to talk to Marinette alone, and when she finally snapped back to reality and glanced down at the group again she was shocked to discover that the most important member of it had slipped away at some point. She immediately doubled back, glancing down at the streets in a desperate attempt to figure out where Marinette had gone, however there was no sign of her, and she let out a defeated sigh.

“Nice job, Queen Bee,” she muttered, as she lightly kicked at a lose tile in frustration, “Very super-heroic. You can’t even spy on someone properly.”

She sighed again, and was about to head back down to ground level to transform back when a loud, familiar voice suddenly rang out from behind her.

“Queen Bee!”

Chloé whirled around on the spot, her eyes widening as she found herself being stared down by Ladybug, who was stood on the rooftop a few feet behind her with her hands on her hips.

“Ladybug!” she said, immediately standing to attention, “What’s going on? Is there an akuma on the loose?!”

“Nothing like that,” said Ladybug, shaking her head as she closed the gap between them, “I just wanted to talk, that’s all.”

“What about?” said Chloé, her eyes narrowing somewhat in suspicion.

It was Ladybug’s turn to sigh.

“Listen… I know you mean well, and I appreciate that you want to be a superhero, but I really am going to need-”

“No way!” said Chloé, pre-empting the end of the sentence and springing back away from her, “I told you already! There’s no way I’m giving up my Miraculous!”

She raised her hands to cover the comb once more. This was exactly why she hadn’t wanted to speak to Ladybug the previous day, and the fact that her suspicions had been one hundred percent correct did nothing to make her feel better about the situation. 

“Being a hero isn’t just about having superpowers,” said Ladybug, her voice gentle yet authoritative, “It’s about doing what’s right, even when it’s hard.”

“I don’t see why you get to decide what is and isn’t right though,” said Chloé, taking another step back and very almost falling off the rooftop as her foot landed right on the edge, “I helped defeat that villain the other day, didn’t I? How is that not doing what’s right!?”

“Look, maybe you can still help out from time to time,” said Ladybug, as she began to close the gap between them again, “If you give me the Miraculous back then I can bring it to you whenever Cat Noir and I need a little extra help. You can do the responsible thing, whilst still being a superhero. Doesn’t that sound better?”

“I…” said Chloé, biting her lip for a moment as she considered Ladybug’s words.

She really didn’t want to make an enemy of her number one hero, but she knew that there was no way she could accept the offer, as generous as it may have been. Having a second identity was the only way she had any chance with Marinette, and there was no way she was going to abandon that opportunity until she had at least tried it.

“I’m sorry, Ladybug,” she said, shaking her head, “But there’s no way.”

She turned and sprang across to the next rooftop without another word, taking off across it at a sprint the very instant her feet touched the tiles. 

“Wait, come back!”

A moment later Ladybug had leaped across the gap as well and was giving chase, doggedly pursuing Chloé from rooftop to rooftop. Chloé unspooled her spinning top again, using it to grapple to a distant lamppost and allowing the momentum to propel her further onward, however Ladybug’s yo-yo allowed her to remain firmly on her heels, swinging from building to building with well-practiced ease. The spinning top allowed Chloé to move faster, but Ladybug had far more experience and knew the streets a lot better, and as such neither of them were able to gain significant ground over the other. It was a stalemate, one that would only end when one of the participants got tired or, as it turned out, got distracted.

*

Sabrina stared glumly at the colorful ice cream in her hands, finding that she barely had any appetite for the sugary treat that she had bothered trekking all the way out to André’s cart for. She’d really been hoping to come here with Chloé, but after being so abruptly brushed off two days in a row she had decided to come by herself, but now as she stood staring at the ice cream she’d purchased it just felt faintly pathetic. André had tried to assure her that the flavors he had specially chosen for her would summon her true love to her, honey for their hair and blueberry for their eyes, however the sentiment hadn’t made her feel any better. 

She sniffed, and began to head back down the sloped street that André had set up his cart at the top of on this particular occasion. She had barely gotten half way down the street however when a sudden cry of alarm from André made her turn around again in alarm.

“Oh no, my cart! The brakes!”

Sabrina’s eyes widened in fear as she found the ice cream cart barreling down the street towards her, picking up a surprising amount of speed in a very short time, and she let out a scream, finding herself momentarily frozen to the spot in terror. Her ice cream fell to the pavement beside her, and just as she was thoroughly convinced that the runaway cart was about to flatten her it was suddenly intercepted by someone. The blonde superheroine that the news had called Queen Bee seemed to come from nowhere, dropping out of the sky beside her and immediately throwing her weight against the cart to stop it in its tracks.

“Are you alright?” said Queen Bee, looking at Sabrina in concern.

At the angle she was standing the afternoon sun seemed to frame her head like a halo, and for several seconds Sabrina was only able to stare silently up at her beautiful savior in awe.

“Um… hello?”

Queen Bee waved a hand in front of her face.

“Oh!” said Sabrina, blushing slightly, “I’m f-fine, thanks to you!” 

“Don’t you forget it,” said Queen Bee, with a smirk and a wink. 

She took her other hand off the cart, which immediately began to roll forward again, and she hastily resumed holding it in place even as Ladybug dropped out of the sky beside her.

“Nice job, Queen Bee,” said Ladybug, surveying the scene approvingly.

It was at that moment the André finally caught up to them, wheezing slightly from his sprint down the street, and he carefully reapplied the cart’s brakes before breathing a sigh of relief and wiping his forehead.

“Thank goodness nobody was hurt!” he said, quickly looking Sabrina up and down to ensure that this was actually true, “The cart, it just slipped away from me!”

“These things happen,” said Ladybug, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder, “Just try and be more careful in future, okay André?”

“I certainly will,” he said, nodding profusely, “thank you, Ladybug! And you… um…”

“Queen Bee!”

“Right, thanks to you as well! Please, allow me to give you all ice cream free of charge, as a reward!”

Ladybug smiled, but shook her head nevertheless.

“Thank you, André, but that won’t be necessary. I’m afraid I still need to talk to Queen Bee about something important.”

Queen Bee gaped at her in obvious disbelief.

“You cannot be serious! I go out of my way to save Sa-” She caught herself mid word. “ _This girl_ , and you still want to take my powers away!?”

“She doesn’t matter!” said Ladybug in frustration, “One lucky rescue doesn’t change anything that I was saying!”

“I don’t matter?” said Sabrina dejectedly.

She looked back and forth between the two heroes, hoping that one of them might reassure her otherwise, however it was clear that neither of them were paying her any real attention at this point as they continued to bicker. 

They were right, of course. She _didn’t_ matter. The only person that she was at all close to was Chloé, and even she had seemed to barely want her around recently. Why should she have expected superheroes to feel any differently about her?

She stared down at her fallen ice cream, which was splattered forlornly across the pavement. _She_ hadn’t turned down André’s offer of a replacement, but he didn’t seem to have noticed, and was already starting to move his cart away again. She may as well have been invisible for all that she mattered to everyone here, or to everyone at all for that matter. The two bickering heroes before her certainly wouldn’t notice if she just disappeared in front of them.

And they didn’t notice the little black butterfly slipping into her glasses either.

“ _Vanisher_.”

Sabrina immediately froze as a chillingly familiar voice rang out in her head.

“I am Hawk Moth. Ladybug thinks that you don’t matter, well I disagree, and from now on nobody will get to decide what does and doesn’t matter but you! I’m giving you some new powers, not just to disappear yourself, but to make anything else you decide doesn’t matter vanish as well! All you have to do for me in return is bring me Ladybug and Cat Noir’s Miraculous. Do we have a deal?”

Sabrina’s eyes hardened, and she nodded.

“I’ll show them all what really doesn’t matter, Hawk Moth!”


	6. Vanisher

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sabrina has become the Vanisher once more, but will her new tricks prove to be just the thing Chloé needs to prove that she can be trusted with a Miraculous after all?

“Um… where did Sa- _that girl_ go?” said Queen Bee.

Marinette blinked in surprise at the sudden change in topic mid-argument, and looked around to where Sabrina had been standing. Her fallen ice cream was still melting away on the pavement, but there was no sign of the girl herself.

“She must have left while we were arguing,” said Ladybug, shifting uncomfortably as she glanced around. 

She had been trying to keep her argument with Queen Bee fairly quiet, but the two of them were nevertheless beginning to attract a small crowd, and she saw more than a couple cell phone cameras pointed in their direction. 

“But I’m sure she was there just a moment ago,” said Queen Bee, frowning, “Though I guess we weren’t really paying attention to her.”

“I saw where she went!” said one of the onlookers, holding up his phone for the two heroes to inspect, “I got it on video. Super freaky! I was surprised neither of you seemed to notice it.”

He tapped the screen to play back the video, and both heroes’ eyes widened in alarm as they saw Sabrina in the footage getting momentarily surrounded by the dark energy of akumatization before vanishing from sight.

“Please don’t tell me she got those ridiculous invisibility powers again,” said Queen Bee, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“Everybody needs to get back!” said Marinette, standing up straight and authoritatively addressing the crowd, “There’s an akuma in the area and she could be anywhere among us right at this very-”

“MOMENT!”

This last word came from Vanisher herself, and Marinette barely had time to turn her head in the direction the yell had come from before she was struck fiercely by a kick to her back that sent her sprawling forward. She collided with the man who had shown them the video, his phone hitting the pavement and shattering as the two of them collapsed onto the ground in a tangled pile. Queen Bee sprang forward, aiming a punch blindly at the approximate spot that Marinette had been struck from, however she simply swung at the air. Her momentum caused her to stumble forward, at which point she found herself tripped by an invisible leg and was sent crashing down on top of Marinette and the unfortunate bystander, who had just begun to stand up again.

“I remember you being better than this, Ladybug!” came Vanisher’s voice again, “And your new sidekick is even worse than the Kitty Cat!”

“She is not my sidekick!” snarled Marinette as she clambered out of the pile of limbs and readied her yo-yo, twirling it defensively.

“I don’t mind being your sidekick,” said Queen Bee as she joined her, spinning her top in a similar fashion, “I’ll take it if it means you let me keep my Miraculous!”

“Really?” said Marinette, in an exasperated tone “You’re doing this now!?”

The two circled around each other as the rest of the crowd moved back to give them more room, remaining back-to-back with their weapons spinning in front of them.

“I just want to prove myself!” said Queen Bee, “Think about it, if I didn’t have a Miraculous you’d be all on your own here!”

“And I’d have a chance of actually _hearing_ where Vanisher is! Would you please be quiet for a moment!?” 

Queen Bee opened her mouth to say something else, but then closed it again and nodded silently instead. Marinette narrowed her eyes for a moment as she looked around, trying to hone in on any sound of movement that had no visible source. She could hear the general background rumble of traffic, nervous chatter from the small crowd that were still stood around to watch the proceedings unfold, and… there! Footsteps directly in front of her!

“Queen Bee, over there!” she said, as she flung her yo-yo forward.

The blonde heroine immediately spun around to launch her spinning top in that direction as well, however both toys were simply grabbed out of the air by invisible hands.

“Not bad,” said Vanisher, “But let’s see how you do when you can’t see your toys.” 

She dropped the two weapons, however as they returned to their owners they began to fade, growing increasingly translucent until both the yo-yo and the spinning top had disappeared completely, string and all. 

“My spinning top!” said Queen Bee in alarm.

Marinette raised the invisible yo-yo and tapped it experimentally with one finger.

“They’re still here, they’re just invisible!”

“Well the joke’s on her!” said Queen Bee, “I don’t need to be able to see my spinning top in order to use my VENOM!” 

She gripped the spinning top tightly in her right hand, the venomous stinger audibly pulsing around her fist even though it couldn’t currently be seen.

“Be careful,” said Marinette, “She’s clearly more powerful than last-”

She was interrupted by a scream from behind her, and both heroes whirled around in time to see several of the onlookers beginning to fade into invisibility as well. The crowd immediately began to scatter, visible and invisible footsteps alike trampling in every direction.

“Good luck hearing my footsteps now!” said Vanisher.

“I don’t need to hear your footsteps when I can hear your voice!” snarled Queen Bee, leaping forward with her stinger hand extended.

She swung her fist at the source of the voice, the tip of the stinger making contact with something unseen. A glowing yellow dot immediately appeared seemingly floating in the air where the stinger had struck, indicating that somebody invisible had been immobilized there.

“Gotcha!” said Queen Bee, with a cocky grin.

“Quickly, get the akuma!” said Marinette, thinking back to the somewhat blurry phone footage they’d been shown, “I’m pretty sure it went into her glasses.”

Queen Bee nodded and reached up to approximately where Vanisher’s face would be, only to frown.

“She’s not wearing glasses!”

Marinette immediately realised what had happened, her eyes widening in alarm.

“You immobilized the wrong person!”

“I didn’t mean to!” said Queen Bee, a slightly defensive edge to her voice, “Don’t worry, it should wear off in a few min-OOF!”

An invisible assailant tackled her from the side, sending her crashing back to the pavement again. Marinette immediately assumed a defensive pose, however the panicked footfalls of the crowd, several more of whom were now fading to invisibility, made it impossible to hear where Vanisher was coming from, and a moment later she was grabbed firmly from behind.

“You know, I think that mask of yours is cheating,” said Vanisher, speaking directly into her ear, “How about I make _that_ disappear as well!?” 

Marinette felt invisible fingers brush across her mask, and gasped in alarm as she realised that she had only a few seconds at most before it was invisible. She struggled hard against her assailant, eventually wrenching one arm free and using it to shield her face from the onlookers.

“Don’t be shy!” said Vanisher, “You’re their hero! So SMILE for the CAMERAS!”

She grabbed Marinette’s arm again and attempted to drag it away from her face, to expose her identity to the world, and for a moment the two of them were locked in a tense stalemate.

“Get away from her!” yelled Queen Bee, who was back on her feet with her invisible spinning top at the ready. 

She ran forward, aiming a punch at where Vanisher logically had to be, and with a cry of pain from the unseen villain Marinette felt the grip holding her weaken enough for her to break free. She was vaguely aware of Queen Bee trading blows with Vanisher, though since she still had to keep her face covered it was difficult to discern what was actually going on, or who was winning. 

"Queen Bee!” she said, “My mask is gone! I need to get out of here!”

“On it, Ladybug!”

Before Marinette could process what was going on the blonde girl had bounded over to her and hooked one arm firmly around her waist, using her other arm to aim the invisible spinning top up at a nearby chimney. It took a couple of attempts for Queen Bee to actually make the shot, but eventually she managed to securely wrap the line around the chimney, and a moment later the two heroes shot into the air as the line dragged them up onto the rooftop.

“Wait here,” said Queen Bee, as she set Marinette down again, “I’ll go find you a new mask.”

Marinette risked a peek out from between her fingers, and glimpsed Queen Bee darting back to the edge of the roof. The blonde heroine hopped down and landed lithely on the awning of a street café, before tearing off a strip of the fabric and returning to the rooftop. She used the tip of her spinning top to poke eyeholes into it, and then handed it to Marinette, keeping her eyes respectfully averted.

“Here,” she said, “This should do.”

Marinette quickly tied it into place, straightening up again now that her identity was safe for the time being.

“Thank you.”

There was an audible beeping from the Bee Miraculous.

“You’re about to transform back yourself though.”

“Shoot,” said Queen Bee, frowning as she reached up and traced one finger across the comb in her hair, “I forgot about that.”

“Up there!” said Marinette, pointing to a higher rooftop, “We should be out of view of the crowd.”

Queen Bee nodded, and the two of them sprang up to the higher vantage point. The blonde girl wasted no time in scurrying behind a tall chimneystack, and Marinette heard her quietly whisper the words that would transform her back.

“Eat quickly, Pollen,” said Queen Bee from behind the chimney, a distinct sense of urgency in her voice, “We have to get back to work!”

Marinette frowned. Now that Queen Bee was out of costume there was something incredibly familiar about her voice, although she was speaking so quietly that Marinette couldn’t actually place what it was. Still, there was one incredibly easy way to find out who the voice belonged to, and she was certainly unlikely to get a better chance to retrieve the Bee Miraculous than this one! She took a step towards the chimney, but then hesitated. 

Queen Bee could have _easily_ taken advantage of her invisible mask to find out her real identity, but she hadn’t. Indeed, as far as Marinette could tell it hadn’t even _occurred_ to the blonde heroine to try and do so. If anything she had done the exact opposite, finding her a replacement mask as soon as possible! Surely then she couldn’t immediately just turn around and betray the same trust that Queen Bee was clearly placing in her.

Marinette sighed, and stepped back again. 

Retrieving the Bee Miraculous would have to wait until another time.

*

Chloé all but forced the croissant down poor Pollen’s throat, so desperate was she to transform back to Queen Bee as soon as possible.

“Come on, come on,” she muttered, as she mentally willed the Kwami to chew faster.

Every second in which her civilian identity remained exposed was a second in which Ladybug could appear from the other side of the chimney and snatch her Miraculous away, and if that happened then it would be goodbye Queen Bee and goodbye to any chance of ever winning over Marinette. The very instant her costume disappeared she knew it had been a mistake, but in that instant she had been so caught up in the exhilarating thrill of having come to Ladybug’s rescue that it hadn’t even occurred to her to abandon her. And now she was going to pay the price for it; she just knew it.

A red and black spotted hand appeared around the corner, and Chloé braced herself for the inevitable. The hand was withdrawn a moment later though, and Chloé blinked in surprise when she realised that Ladybug had simply dropped a note beside her.

“Queen Bee, I’m going after Vanisher,” said Ladybug, “We can’t let her get too far away. Use these instructions to contact Cat Noir on your Bee Phone and join me when you can!”

“Y-yes, Ladybug,” said Chloé, momentarily too stunned to object to Ladybug going off alone.

She heard the faint sound of Ladybug swinging away, and then carefully picked up the note and unfolded it, quickly reading the instructions.

Had that really just happened?

After all their bickering, Ladybug hadn’t taken the chance to retrieve the Miraculous?

Chloé could barely believe it! She certainly wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth though, and once she had finished reading the note she glanced back at Pollen to see if she was ready yet.

“I’m at your service once more, My Queen!” said Pollen, bowing politely as she swallowed the final bite of croissant.

Chloé nodded, and a moment later she was back in her Queen Bee costume. She had hoped that the process of transforming back and forth would have restored her spinning top, but it was frustratingly still completely invisible, and as such it took no small amount of blind fumbling before she finally managed to access the Bee Phone and follow Ladybug’s instructions.

“Cat got your tongue? Leave a message!”

“Cat Noir? It’s Queen Bee. We’ve got a serious akuma problem here so get your leathery tail down to the Rue des Martyrs already!”

She hung up the phone, then reconsidered and fumbled to call him a second time.

“Ladybug told me to call you, by the way. In case you were wondering.”

She hung up again, then leaped down off the rooftop to follow Ladybug. It wasn’t hard to pick up on Vanisher’s trail. All she had to do was look for objects that were obviously missing, as well as people trying desperately to reassure their invisible friends. She eventually located Ladybug standing in the centre of an intersection, craning her neck as she looked back and forth.

“I lost her!” said Ladybug in frustration as Chloé landed beside her, “I know she went this way, but I lost track of her footsteps amid the traffic.”

“How are you so sure she went this way?”

Ladybug simply raised one hand in response and rapped her knuckles several times against the hood of an invisible car to her right.

“Call it a hunch.”

Thankfully the other drivers seemed to have realised that something was going on, for they were giving that particular stretch of road a wide berth. It was a good thing too, for as Chloé took a few experimental steps to the left only to bang her shin against another car it became apparent that there was a whole line of invisible vehicles.

“So, what now?” said Chloé, as she returned to Ladybug’s side, since this was the one spot where she was confident that she wasn’t about to walk into another unseen obstacle.

“I’m not sure,” said Ladybug, holding her chin with one hand as she considered the situation, “But since it’s my Miraculous that she’s ultimately I suspect that she’ll come to us without us needing to track her down.” 

“Which means she could still be here,” said Chloé.

“Exactly! We need to be on guard for any sound of-”

There was a soft, metallic clicking sound at their feet. Ladybug leaped back in alarm, which proved to be a mistake, since the source of the clicking sound had been a pair of invisible handcuffs being locked around her left ankle and Chloé’s right. As such her sudden motion only succeeded in dragging Chloé’s legs out from under her, and both heroes collapsed to the ground once more in an ungainly pile. It took several long seconds for the two of them to coordinate their movements enough to clamber back to their feet, which was made all the more excruciating by Vanisher’s giggling.

“If it’s any consolation,” said Vanisher, “The key is lying right over there. I’m sure you’ll find it if you crawl around for long enough!” 

Chloé twirled her spinning top and hurled it in the direction of the voice, but only succeeded in tangling the chord around an invisible street light. A loud bang a moment later indicated that Vanisher had jumped onto the roof of a car, however by the time Ladybug had aimed her yo-yo in that direction she had already moved on again. She was quite literally jumping rings around them, the cuffs connecting their ankles making it difficult for the two heroines to turn around in time to keep up with each new impact as Vanisher hopped from car to car.

Another bang rang out from behind them, however this time when they turned to face in that direction they found themselves staring at the incredibly visible Cat Noir, who was looking down at them with a bemused expression.

“If this is some new dance craze I’ll admit I don’t get it.”

“There you are, Cat Noir!” said Ladybug, “What took you so long!?”

“Hey, it’s not like we have to spend all of our time together,” said Cat Noir cold, folding his arms, “It’s not like we’re a couple or anything.”

“Please don’t tell me you’re mad at me about the rose!” said Ladybug, with an exasperated sigh.

“Wait, you two _aren’t_ a couple?” said Chloé, looking back and forth between them.

“No!” snapped both of them simultaneously.

“Look, we don’t have time for this,” said Ladybug, “Cat Noir, could you please just get these cuffs off us?”

“I don’t _see_ any cuffs.”

“CAT!”

“Alright, My Lady, keep your spots on. CATACLYSM!”

He hopped down off the invisible car and carefully felt for the cuffs with his safe hand, before promptly disintegrating them with the other. The two heroines wasted no time in stepping away from each other, immediately taking up defensive positions again as they looked around for any sign of Vanisher.

“I think it’s about time we wrapped this up,” said Ladybug, as she threw her yo-yo up into the air, “LUCKY CHARM!”

An intense burst of pure creative power swirled in the air above her, and a moment later a small red and black spotted spray can dropped into her waiting hands.

“A can of Silly String? What am I supposed to do with this?”

It didn’t take long to figure out though, for at that moment they were interrupted by the sound of an engine revving loudly, followed a second or so later by screeching tires. There was no sign of a moving vehicle though, and Chloé’s eyes widened in alarm as she realised that one of the invisible cars must be rapidly bearing down towards them. She immediately leaped up onto a nearby street light, a motion that was mirrored by Cat Noir, however Ladybug stood her ground, holding the can firmly in her hands.

“Get out of there!” yelled Cat Noir in alarm, once he realised that she hadn’t moved.

“Trust me, just be ready!” replied Ladybug, “I’ll need both of you!”

The squeal of tires and the roar of the engine grew even louder, a shower of sparks as the invisible vehicle scraped against one of the other abandoned cars betraying which direction it was coming from. Ladybug still didn’t move until the last moment though, at which point she hopped up onto the car’s bonnet, emptied the can of Silly String onto the windshield, and then rolled over the rooftop to land on the road behind it.

“Cat Noir, get the right door!” yelled Ladybug, as the vehicle swerved wildly, scraping against several more invisible cars as it did so, “Queen Bee, go left!” 

Chloé didn’t need telling twice. She sprang from her vantage point, landing approximately where the invisible car’s driver side door had to be, based on the position of the string that still covered the windshield. She wrenched it open at the same moment that Cat Noir opened the passenger side door, and together the two of them firmly grabbed the invisible driver, who struggled fiercely against their grip.

“Let go of me!” protested Vanisher.

Chloé merely rolled her eyes at this, and plucked the invisible glasses from Vanisher’s face, snapping them in two in her hands. An eerie black butterfly emerged from the remains, which Ladybug immediately aimed her yo-yo towards. It took a couple of attempts to actually get her aim right, since her yo-yo was still invisible, but before long the akuma had been purified, and she waved goodbye to the butterfly as she released it into the sky once more. With that done she threw the empty can up into the air, releasing the magical ladybugs that would reverse all of the damage caused by Vanisher during her brief rampage. 

“Pound it!”

The three heroes shared a three-way fist bump as Sabrina rematerialized in front of them, looking incredibly sheepish as she clambered out of the now visible car.

“Oh no, it happened again didn’t it?” she said, staring shamefacedly down at her shoes.

“Hey, it’s not your fault,” said Cat Noir, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder, “Hawk Moth is a master at what he does. It could happen to anyone! Right, My Lady?”

Ladybug nodded in agreement.

“Besides, who _hasn’t_ been akumatized at this point?” said Chloé, as she flipped her hair over one shoulder.

“Have you?” said Cat Noir, raising one eyebrow.

Chloé almost choked on her own tongue.

“What? No! Of course not!” said Chloé, hoping desperately that they wouldn’t see through the lie, “I just know lots of people who have, that’s all.”

The last thing that she wanted was to potentially give Ladybug any more reasons to not trust her, and she quickly changed the subject again.

“The point is, you’ll be fine,” she said, deliberately diverting attention back onto Sabrina, “Just keep an eye out for any more black butterflies, and if you do slip up, we’ll just be here to save you again.”

She winked at Sabrina, who blushed.

“R-right,” she said, nodding uncertainly, “Thank you.”

“We should probably get out of here though,” said Cat Noir, as he straightened up and glanced around at the growing crowd, “I think there are some people here who want their cars back.”

Ladybug whispered something into his ear, and he looked at her strangely for a moment or so before nodding. This time it was Chloé’s turn to raise her eyebrow, however before she had chance to demand an explanation they were interrupted by beeping from both Cat Noir’s ring and Ladybug’s earrings.

“Uh-oh,” said Ladybug, “I don’t have much time left. Bug out!” 

She waved and swung away, followed a moment later by Cat Noir, who vaulted off in the opposite direction. Chloé frowned as she watched them go, wishing she’d had chance to find out what that curious exchange was about.

Still, despite this uncertainty, Chloé was feeling pretty positive on the whole! She’d helped to save Paris again, and this time Ladybug hadn’t even asked for her Miraculous back afterwards, which had to be a good sign! Also, since she hadn’t had to use her power this time, she wasn’t in danger of transforming back any time soon, which meant that she had time to resume her original plan of approaching Marinette incognito!

Assuming she was able to find her, that was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof, I'm sorry this chapter took so long! I'll try to have the next one up a lot sooner ^^''


End file.
